Into the light
by oliverwxod
Summary: He saw a flash of green whipping in the wind, his focus was drawn on the speed at which they were flying towards him. They swerved to the left, small hands clasped around the quaffle before their elbows push forward sending it into the middle hoop. Oliver looked bewildered, meeting the eyes of the person who scored against him, she winked in return. It was Slytherins new chaser.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN;** Please let me know what you think so far, would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!_

 _ **Disclaimer;** All people, places and magical things and the whole of the Harry Potter wolrd belong to JK Rowling. This is purely for entertainment only and the only charcter I own is the OC Rayna._

 ** _Chapter 1_ \- Hogwarts**

 **September 1991**

* * *

Rayna took a deep breath, steadying her shaking hands by clenching them into small fists by her sides. The material of her black robes school robes pooled around her ankles as she sat rigidly on the sorting hat stool. She tried to focus on the surroundings interiors of Dumbledore's office but found she couldn't focus.

"A pureblood." the sorting hat mumbled to itself once it was placed on top of the young girls head. "interesting... a Carrow who is only now joining Hogwarts, curious" the hat spoke quietly. "I think you would do just fine in Hufflepuff, I see your loyalty and kindness. But... would your ambition be wasted here?"

The hat was taking it's time to think, it was unusually strange for it to be undecided so soon, it was a rare occurance when one house didn't stand out immediately. Rayna didn't know when the last time she let out a breath was, her heart was pounding loudly in her chest.

"your mind is clouded, I see your ambition is trying to be heard but you are pushing it further away in to the dark. You would fit in perfectly with Ravenclaw, the right amount of intelligence and cleverness, always driven by common sense, yet Gryffindor is where you will be cherished the most. Your bravery will stand out, they will help you find the light." the hat was still speaking, questioning itself every couple minutes.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagle shared a curious look with each other, one that did not go missed by Rayna. Professor Snape was watching from the corner of Dumbledore's office, holding his breath when he heard the hat mention Gryffindor.

"I can see how Gryffindor will be the best for you but your family will not agree. The place for your ambition to break free must only be SLYTHERIN" the hat finally came to the decision. She sighed in relief at the outcome, she was a Slytherin now.

As Professor McGonagle moved to remove the sorting hat, it spoke up one final time.

"you must seek the light in this tunnel of darkness and gloom, for you must listen to your own selfish needs, Miss Carrow"

Rayna's face dropped slightly, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her lips parting slightly in thought of the sorting hats odd words. She made eye contact with Professor Snape who wore the same expression of bewilderment.

However, taking in the new found information that she had been placed in Slytherin, Rayna finally felt like she could breathe. Her heart almost dropped at the hat's mention of Gryffindor. Her Father would not have been pleased and her Aunt would have been furious. She knew she would be taken straight out of the school if that was her fate.

Surprisngly, Rayna wasn't nervous about her first day at Hogwarts. She had the whole of summer to worry about it and had eventually come to terms with it. She was controlling her excitement at the thought of finally being able to be part of the wider wizarding community.

She had been home schooled her whole life, dreaming of being allowed to go to Hogwarts and now it was really happening. She was overcome with joy when her Father allowed her to finally go, it only took 5 years of Rayna trying to persuade him. There must have been a deeper meaning to why he suddenly allowed her to go, it was suspicious after all this time. She would be joining for her fifth year which mean't she didn't know many people, she couldn't help but question if her Father had kept her away for certain reasons?

She only knew a couple of Slytherins that her Father and Aunt were associated with.

The Flint family were very present in Rayna's life. Her Father Amycus was good friends with Mr Flint. This left a young Rayna Lee Carrow and young Marcus Flint years of growing up together.

Over the years they had formed a solid friendship, spending alot of their free time playing Quiditch or messing about together when Flint was back from Hogwarts for the holidays. She had always envied him for being able to attend the school.

Rayna had always wanted to be a part of Hogwarts, she spent a lot of time researching and looking in books to find out as much as she could, she was overly excited to finally see watch she had only read of in real life, up close so she could treasure the memories.

Professor Snape had lead Rayna from Dumbledore's office down to the great hall where he showed her to the Slytherin table. She thanked the Professor before spotting Flint and walking over to him.

She ignored the curious stares of people around her, mostly from the table next to the Slytherins. She recognized most of them as Ravenclaws due to the blue ties and badges.

"Rayna" she heard Flint speak, stopping his conversation with those around him as soon as he saw the girl. "welcome to Slytherin" he said as his eyes fell on the Emerald Slytherin crest on her robes.

"it was slightly scary" she said sitting down in the empty space opposite Flint where a Slytherin guy had moved over for her. "The hat was talking about Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw and then it spoke about Gryffindor for a couple minutes which was when I really started to worry"

"lucky escape there" said a guy sitting next to Flint meeting her eyes and flashing her a smile."Adrian Pucey" he spoke softly holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Rayna Carrow" she replied.

Rayna took a couple minutes to examine her surroundings, her eyes falling on the sky of the great hall. There were candles charmed to float 7 foot above the students, emitting a warm yellow glow across the hall creating an extraordinary atmosphere. She had read about these enchantments in Hogwarts a history and now was seeing them in real.

"Snape gave me Captain this year" Flint told her as first years were being lead into the great hall.

"that's great!" she said, eyes lighting up at the mention of Quidditch.

"it is indeed, you have to be our new chaser" he said seriously.

"that would be amazing" she spoke happily, her smile widening, she had always wanted to be on a Quiditch team, she loved the sport and had spent plenty of her time perfecting her flying skills. "but shouldn't I at least try out first?"

"now I can see why the hat considered putting you in Hufflepuff" another person interrupted the conversation.

"this is Higgs" Flint said " he's our seeker"

"hi" she said giving him a small awkward wave.

"if you're as good as Flint has been telling us over the years then I don't think you need to try out" Pucey said. "plus it would be nice to finally work with someone whose a good of a chaser as me" he winked

"what did you tell them?" Rayna laughed

"oh come on Ray, stop being modest, you know you have mad Quiditch skills to be a chaser" Flint spoke

"also he kept reminding us last year at training that there was this girl who could kick our ass with her eyes closed, which made some of the sexist pigs work harder, because there was no way that they wanted to be compared to a girl." Pucey chuckled.

"well they sound like delightful people, can't wait to meet them" she said sarcastically making those around her chuckle.

"You wont have to" Flint said "they left last year, one of them left school and the other dropped out claiming to search for the Dark Lord" he chuckled.

"how very...interesting" she laughed.

"even if I hold try outs for a new chaser i'm still going to pick you" Flint said "so really there's no point wasting everyone's time".

"well if you insist" Rayna smiled.

"with you on the team, Wood will be pulling out his hair by the end of the year or drive himself into a loony bin" Everyone around him laughed.

"whose Wood?" Rayna asked curiously.

"Gryffindor Captain this year and keeper" he scoffed with dislike.

"well, let's make sure he goes bald then" she laughed.

* * *

 _ **Note:**_

 _Hey guys, I know this is only the first chapter, but what do you think so far? It would be lovely to hear comments and feedback throughout. At the moment i've got most of the chapters planned out and hopefully will be able to update every couple of days._

 _Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN;** tell me what you think so far, or give a cheeky little follow so I know that people are reading. Thank you!_

 _ **Disclaimer;** All people, places and magical things and the whole Harry Potter world belong to JK Rowling, this is purely for entertainment and the only character I own is the OC Rayna._

 **Chapter 2** - _ **Quidditch**_

 _ **September 1991**_

* * *

Rayna had been at Hogwarts for a couple of weeks so far. The Slytherins had been very welcoming to her. However, other houses didn't seem to want to make the effort. Rayna had tried to hold a conversation with a Ravenclaw during a potions lesson with Professor Snape, but they had glared at her as soon as she said hello to them.

Flint informed her it was nothing personal against her, but the fact that others houses didn't take to well to Slytherins. He told her that being nice to other houses came across as uneasy and even suspicious because of the expectations other students have of Slytherin pupils. Yet Rayna was genuinely being nice and trying her best to make other friends.

Over the two weeks that she had become a student at Hogwarts, Flint had held four Quidditch training practices that Rayna happily attended now she was part of the team.

They had their first game against Gryffindor in a couple of days meaning Flint had arranged a last minute practice which Rayna was on her way to.

She was walking quickly, her bag full of clothes slung over her left shoulder and her broom gripped tightly in her right hand. Rayna descended the stairs, hurriedly walking across the castle grounds in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. It was raining lightly and she had to concentrate on her steps as the grass was becoming a slippery hazard. She could see a blur of red up ahead through the fuzzy rain, she realized it must have been the Gryffindor Quidditch team going into their locker room having finished practice.

The Slytherins locker room was situated opposite of Gryffindors, an emerald green colored wall facing a golden red wall clashing terribly with each other while still being a pleasant sight to look at. Just as she reached the Slytherin door that would take her inside of the locker and shower room, a voice behind her caught her attention.

"hi"

She spun round quickly her eyes wide as she wasn't expecting it.

"didn't mean to startle you" another voice spoke in an apology.

"that's- okay... hi" she said quietly in response.

"i'm Fred Weasley" the second voice spoke "and this is the moron who scared you, George"

Rayna took in their appearances, both of them had signature ginger hair, slightly flat, matted by the rain. They were completely identical, however Rayna noticed that George had a small barely noticeable mole on the skin near his ear. That's how she was going to be able to tell them apart. They were both clad in scarlet robes with the Gryffindor crest proudly sitting on the chests.

"Rayna Carrow" she replied smiling slightly as this was the first time someone from another house had started a friendly conversation with her.

"you must be the new Slytherin chaser" George spoke curiously "you any good?"

"yes, she's very good. Now if you would kindly leave, she has practice to attend" Flint had appeared behind the Weasley twins.

"we were just asking" George responded his hands up in surrender.

"it was nice meeting you" Rayna spoke with a smile on her face meeting Fred's eyes. "I better get changed for practice" she excused herself before pushing open the locker room door and disappearing from the twins sight.

"what are you playing at Weasley?" Flint sneered at George.

"I was just making casual conversation" he replied.

"leave my chaser alone" he glared at them harshly.

They were interrupted by the Gryffindor locker room door swinging open.

"Weasley's what are you doing out here, you're missing the team talk" the authoritative voice of Oliver Wood sounded through the locker room corridor. Oliver stepped out of the room to join them. "Flint" Oliver scoffed when his eyes fell on the Slytherin.

"Wood" he almost growled.

"haven't you got a team to train?" Wood retorted

"in fact I do." Flint smirked "I have a very good team this year"

"i'll believe that when I see it" Wood gave him a sarcastic smile.

"oh, you will. Just wait until Saturday, when we win" Flint challenged.

"cheating and dirty playing isn't winning" Wood retorted, turning his nose up at the black haired Slytherin.

"see you Saturday Wood, Weasley's" Flint smirked before disappearing into the Slytherin locker room.

The twins followed behind Wood who was now silent as he lead them back to their lockers. The rest of the Gryffindor team were gathered on the benches waiting on them.

"Saturdays game will no doubt be tough" Oliver broke the silence, looking at his team mates. "Flint will not go down without a fight-"

"not to mention their new chaser" Fred cut in "she's supposed to be really good"

"with the way Flint trains him then i'm sure he will just be another player who uses their strength to play dirty" Wood spoke.

This made the twins both chuckle.

"I don't think she could knock anyone of their broomstick if she tried Wood. She's pretty small for a Slytherin player" George spoke amused.

Oliver's eyes widened. He didn't expect the new chaser to be a girl, let alone a petite one. Slytherin's tactics favored playing dirty, Flint picking his team based on strength and fight. Slytherin hadn't had a girl on the team for years. She must be an exception or a reason for it.

Oliver's eyes glanced around the room taking in the now nervous glances that his team were giving each other.

"so what if this girl is as good as you say" Angelina scoffed. "the rest of the team are basically the same. She can't carry the whole team just with her chaser skills"

"you must not think like that" Oliver said "I don't want us to underestimate any team this season, no game is an easy game okay?"

He received nods from around the room.

"Flint is out for blood this year" Fred spoke "I can see it"

Oliver was starting to worry at the new found news of the Slytherins team. With Adrian Pucey and a new supposedly very good player as two out of three of Slytherins chasers worried him. Pucey was a good chaser, Oliver would give that to him, but in previous years the other Slytherin chaser couldn't keep up with him meaning his talent was almost wasted.

The game on Saturday was going to be very interesting. Oliver was broken from his thoughts when he heard Alicia Spinnet speak up.

"i'm sure she's not that pretty, you're probably exaggerating"

"you should have seen her, she was stunning, really took Fred's breath away, didn't she?" George chuckled as Alicia glared at him.

"she was" Fred mumbled blushing slightly as he was called out in front of the Gryffindor team.

"it doesn't matter if she's pretty or not Fred. You must not be distracted, Okay?" Oliver spoke sternly.

"you haven't seen her yet have you Wood?" Fred said quietly.

"no, I haven't and I do not intend to until Saturday when we are on the pitch winning against them" Oliver spoke seriously.

"and don't go all gentlemanly on her" Alicia spat "hit the bludgers her way, the Slytherins sure as hell don't take it easy on us because we're girls"

"but I don't want to ruin her pretty face" George joked around knowing it would get a rise out of some of the girls.

"George!" Oliver said threateningly

"i'm only joking. I'll send one her way"

He received glares off of all the girls and Wood.

"alright, alright" he said putting his hand up in surrender "i''l send two her way"

"George" Angelina growled

"i'm just kidding" he laughed "i'll send as many as I can"

"you better, or i'll do it myself-" Angelina went to say but Oliver cut her off.

"that's enough, we will all play to the best of our abilities and better. We need to start off with a win to show everyone how serious we are about winning the cup this year" Oliver said feeling the need to remind them all how serious he was being this year.

He saw Katie Bell roll her eyes at his statement expecting another rant.

"please just take it seriously this year, I cannot express how important this is, we need to win" Oliver sighed clutching onto his playbook tightly. "you can all go now" he said. "remember practice tomorrow at 7, it's the last one before the game so you better all be here no excuses" he reminded them as they all started to move around collecting up their belongings.

"what if we're dying" George asked

"then I expect you to still be here at 7 tomorrow" Oliver replied.

After everyone had left Oliver sat on the bench for a while reading over the plays in his note book. They had solid strategies this year. Oliver had spent his summer watching many Quidditch games and picking up on their techniques and skills. He managed to create a training plan and merge his notes into new strategies to try out against each team this year.

Once he felt tiredness over take him, Oliver discarded his book to the side before deciding to shower. He had the water as hot as it would go in hopes of burning the tension out of his shoulders. He felt himself relax slightly as the hot water thudded down on his back, this didn't last long as he thought about the changes of the Slytherin team, he ran his hand through his wet hair in frustration. What if he had to create new strategies now they had a new player. How was he mean't to know how talented she was based on the word of the Weasley's who had never seen her play.

Oliver turned the water off, wrapping a towel round his waist as he exited the shower room to reach his locker. He sat down on the bench again, his playbook back in his hand.

He heard a couple bangs outside and the voices of the Slytherin team going into their locker room after finishing practice. He heard the loud laugh of what he assumed was Flint and Pucey, followed by a small, angelic giggle.

Oliver sighed, sitting with his head in his hands as he thought of Saturdays game. It was certainly going to be tough. Maybe he should schedule more practices Oliver thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**_AN -_** _Please comment if you're reading and let me know what you think so far._

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _All people, places and magical things and the whole of the Harry Potter world belong to JK Rowling. This is written purely for entertainment_ _only, the only character I own is the OC Rayna._

 **Chapter 3** \- **_The Quidditch match_**

 ** _September 1991_**

* * *

An uproar of cheers echoed through the sky. Nature was being kind to them all today, the sky was bright and clear, very few clouds were visible to the eye. The sun was beating down on the sea of green and silver on one quarter of the stands. The other half was packed with red and gold. It was a large turnout for the first match of the school year. From the moment students had woken up that morning there had been an excitable atmosphere, especially at breakfast.

Oliver Wood had just finished his team pep talk, he was more nervous than he had been before since being captain. At least his team seemed focused on winning today which eased his mind a little.

The Slytherins were already in the sky warming up when the Gryffindor's arrived onto the pitch.

Oliver could see Flint smirking at him from afar. He glared in response before ushering his team to warm up.

"GO GO GRYFINDOR" was being chanted by the crowd bringing a small smile onto Oliver's face. The Whistle blew signalling for both team captain to fly down to Madame Hooch, while both teams took their starting positions.

"I want a nice, clean game" Madame Hooch stated looking at the two glaring captains sternly.

"of course," Flint smirked holding his hand out for Oliver to shake.

Oliver's glare increased.

"certainly" Oliver stated raising his eyebrows up at Flint as they firmly shook each other's hand, neither of them missing how hard they had both gripped.

"let the game begin" Madame Hooch blew the whistle, throwing the quaffle into the air once Oliver had made it to his position in front of the three hoops.

He watched as Adrian Pucey snatched the quaffle straight away before dodging Angelina who had made a grab for it. He threw it to Flint who dropped it beneath him as a bludger sent by one of the Weasleys skimmed past his face.

Lee Jordan was commenting the match like he usually did, McGonagle interrupting him as soon as he showed some kind of bias towards Gryfindor.

"and Katie Bell drops the quaffle almost being hit by a bludger sent by Lucian Bole" Lee's voice was loud over the cheers from the Slytherin stands.

"Marcus Flint has possession of the quaffle, throwing it to Rayna Carrow the new Slytherin chaser, looks like Flint has thrown it too far ahead of her…" he stopped to watch as Rayna picked up speed on her broomstick her right arm reaching forward, the tips of her fingers brushed the quaffle as she leaned forward to speed up more. Her hand clasped around the quaffle before pulling it under her arm. "that was some great speed from Rayna Carrow who now has the quaffle.

Rayna flew well, todays weather was her favourite flying conditions, giving her the confidence she needed for her first match.

She sped towards the Gryffindor hoops, one of their chasers heading straight for her with their hands reached out to try and grasp the quaffle. Looking them straight in the eyes Rayna smirked before throwing the quaffle to the right where she knew Adrian would be.

Over the past couple trainings, Rayna and Adrian had clicked in their playing positions. They were similar flyers, they both had speed and co-ordination. They had a new formation allowing them both to know where the other would be without looking. So far it was working in their favour.

Adrian caught the quaffle smirking to himself as the Gryffindor heading towards Rayna looked confused, obviously not expecting her to pass the quaffle.

As the same Gryffindor flew towards Adrian he could see Rayna up ahead nearing the Gryffindor goals, he swerved the Gryffindor player as Flint came up beside him. They made quick eye contact tricking another chaser into thinking Adrian was about to throw it to Flint. However, he threw it the other side to Rayna who caught it easily before speeding towards the Gryffindor goals.

Oliver was frustrated as he saw the Slytherins passing techniques. They were beginning to run circles around his chasers and he could see the frustration of his players which was not good. Oliver knew when his team were frustrated they started to make silly mistakes. He focused back on the game, paying that they would keep it together until Harry found the snitch.

He saw a flash of green whipping in the wind, his focus was drawn on the speed at which they were flying towards him. They swerved to the left, small hands clasped around the quaffle before their elbows push forward sending it into the middle hoop.

Oliver looked bewildered, meeting the eyes of the person who scored against him, she winked in return.

It was Slytherins new chaser.

Oliver was shocked. At first, he thought she was going to throw the quaffle into the right hoop which he had moved towards, yet she surprised him at the last minute, curving the quaffle into the middle hoops with much precision. Oliver was impressed.

He met her stare again as she smiled at him innocently. Her eyes twinkling with joy in the sunlight.

The Slytherin crowd had gone crazy, shouting and chanting, but all Oliver could focus on was her.

Flint watched on smirking before taking one of the beaters bats and hitting a bludger as hard as he could in the direction of the Gryffindors keeper.

Woods heard the bludger before he could see it, breaking eye contact with the Slytherin chaser and ducking out of the way of the bludger. He looked to see Flint laughing at him from afar, he shot a glare back at him before turning to where the Slytherin chaser had previously been.

She was now half way across the pitch, Adrian Pucey patting her on the shoulder in passing.

The game was picking up again until both Slytherin beaters cornered Angelina Johnson knocking her into each other and making her drop the quaffle.

Rayna swooped low to catch it before sending it to Adrian who passed it off to Flint straight away. They were heading towards the Gryffindor goals again, confusing the Gryffindor chasers once again with their trio of quick passes back and forth to each other.

"Rayna Carrow has the quaffle again and Is making her way towards Wood." Lee commented

Rayna copied the same action as the last, curving the quaffle to the right this time and sending it towards the middle. Unfortunately for her, the Gryffindor keeper caught it before throwing it to one of his chasers who caught it.

"was a bit predictable love" He shouted over to her as she met his eyes again. He gave her a cheeky smile as she raised her eyebrows.

"predictable?" she chuckled.

"just a bit" he replied

"I guess so" she smiled before turning around and flying towards the Slytherin goals to help the other chasers.

"Rayna Carrow has the quaffle again and is heading back to the Gryffindor goals with Adrian Pucey and Marcus Flint by her side. The quaffle goes to Flint, now to Pucey then back to Flint, Angelina Johnson intercepts… but Carrow tails her snatching the quaffle back before throwing to Pucey." Lee was trying to keep up with the rapid passes of the Slytherin chasers.

Rayna found herself with the quaffle quickly coming up to the Gryffindor's and their keeper again.

She went to throw it again, setting up the same situation as the last two, however before she threw it she dropped it.

Rayna knew Adrian was there without having to look.

Adrian caught it with both hands before sending it flying into the left hoops.

Oliver wasn't expecting that at all.

He looked at her in what was almost amazement but he played it off as shock.

"was that predictable?" she asked, pouting slightly as she waited for an answer.

"Rayna" Adrian called motioning for her to help him and Flint get the quaffle off Alicia Spinnet who was speeding towards Slytherins goal.

Oliver was slightly in shock. He was never this un-alert in a match before, what the hell was happening to him. Maybe he was thrown off by the Slytherins new strategy and how their passes were more accurate making it hard to intercept.

Oliver was broken out of his thoughts as he heard the crowd gasping.

Harry was diving towards the ground, hand out stretched. He was neck and neck with the Slytherin seeker, Terrence Higgs. However, as they came hurdling towards the ground, Higgs pulled up at the last moment, too scared of hitting the ground.

Oliver saw Harry shift on his broom, standing up on it slightly his hand still out stretched. Suddenly his broom titled and hit the ground tripping him in the process and making him tumble onto the ground. Another round of gasps from the crowd sounded.

Rayna was watching it all unfold and flinched when Harry hit the ground. It looked like he was going to be sick.

Yet all that came out of Harrys mouth was the golden snitch.

"Harry Potter has caught the golden snitch. Gryffindor wins" yelled Lee Jordan.

Rayna raised her eyebrows impressed.

She followed her team down to the ground.

Most of them looked pissed, especially Flint.

"I think we played well" Rayna spoke. "we definitely threw them off with the whole quick passing thing, but we might have to change it up. Don't want to be too predictable."

The team nodded.

"I'm going to shower" Flint stormed off, the two beaters and keeper following him.

"well played Rayna" Adrian said patting her on the shoulder "it's nice to finally have someone to work together with on the pitch, made it easier, especially as we fly the same speed."

Oliver walked up to the three remaining Slytherins.

"Pucey" he nodded at him in acknowledgement. Adrian nodded back.

"good game" Rayna smiled at him, holding her hand out to shake his.

"we haven't officially met" Oliver said taking her out stretched hand and shaking it. "I'm Oliver Wood"

"Rayna Carrow" she replied. "hi" she waved awkwardly at the rest of the Gryffindor team who stood behind Oliver.

None of them really acknowledged her. The girls frowning at her, all accept Katie Bell who gave her a small smile which Rayna appreciated.

"if it isn't my favourite Slytherin" George Weasley spoke up.

"George" she nodded smiling.

"wrong twin" he said trying to confuse her. "I'm Fred"

She frowned slightly. "no, you're not, you're George"

George looked momentarily shocked, confused at how she knew. Even his own parents couldn't tell the difference.

"I like you" George said, "can we keep her?" he asked turning to Fred who nodded.

"Rayna, we better go to the locker rooms, I'm sure Flint will want to talk" Adrian spoke quietly to her, but the Gryffindors heard.

"We better go" Rayna said dismissing herself. "well played everyone and congratulations for winning!" she said smiling at them all before turning around to make her way to the Slytherin locker rooms with Adrian and Terrance behind her.

Oliver watched her retreating figure confused and frowning.

"how is she a Slytherin?" Fred spoke up as everyone was silent. Oliver had just been thinking the same thing.

"oh come on, can't you see right through her!" Alicia Spinnet spoke up laughing. "She's obviously up to something, the Slytherins must be planning something."

"I think she seems nice" Katie Bell said quietly.

"oh come on Katie, open your eyes, don't be so naive. She a Slytherin, she's there for a reason." Alicia said in disgust.

"she's a really good chaser" Katie said ignoring Alicia. "she didn't cheat once through the entire game"

It was true Oliver thought. She hadn't cheated. She had scored based on true talent and skill. She also had very nice technique and he wondered where she learnt it from or who.

"She also has a pretty face" George spoke up before grunting as Angelina had hit him on the shoulder.

True again, Oliver thought. But he pushed this thought away immediately. No distractions when it came to Quidditch, no matter how nice her face was.

"Jesus woman, I'm just saying that she's nice to look at, plus she can tell us apart" George gestured towards his twin.

Oliver sighed. The game hadn't gone as well as he hoped and they had only won because Harry caught the snitch. He didn't want to have to rely on that. They definitely needed to practice more and Oliver definitely had to think of new strategies.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 - Fleeting glances**_

 _ **October 1991**_

* * *

The next time oliver saw Rayna was during Slytherins Quidditch practice.

He was making his way to the Gryffindor locker room as he found it helped him focus on writing plays in his book. There were no distractions or people trying to talk to him there.

Before he got to the red door that would lead him to his quiet place; flashes of green caught his eye.

In a moment of curiousness, he made his way to the opening that lead to the pitch giving him a view of everything. He knew he shouldn't watch, but he was curious, you can't blame him really.

He stood by the opening, hidden from view. Leaning against the wall he spotted Rayna in they sky laughing at something Pucey had said to her.

He watched her fly for a while, she was a good flyer; it looked natural to her. She had speed and agility and made it look effortless compared to the others. Although Oliver wasn't really watching the others. It was kind of mesmerizing watching her tune everything out and focus on flying while tossing a Quaffle back and forth between her and Pucey.

She caught them effortlessly and her throws were precise every time, landing exactly where she aimed.

Oliver gasped as he watched the scene play out in front of him. A bludger came out of what seemed like no where and was heading straight towards her yet Oliver could see she was unaware, looking the other way laughing at Pucey while catching the Quaffle.

Oliver was about to shout in warning but Pucey beat him to it which was good as he would have been spied and the Slytherins would not take that lightly.

"RAY! watch out!" Adrian shouted diverting her attention away from their previous laughter, his eyes widened as he watched the bludger head straight towards the chaser, his fast reactions from being a chaser weren't kicking in as he was too in shock that a bludger had made it way this quickly towards her without him noticing.

Without looking she moved quickly to the side in shock at Adrian's shout knowing it was a warning of some kind that must not be good.

She didn't move far enough and the bludger collided with her shoulder, the impact making a loud cracking noise and she soon lost control of her broom, not expecting it.

A look of pain resided on her face and Oliver's gut twisted, he knew how much it hurt to get hit by one.

Luckily Pucey's brain kicked into action and he was now close enough to help control her broom holding onto it to pull himself closer and steady her from falling.

Pucey looked around the sky once Rayna was safely on her broom. He glared at the beater who was looking their way with wide eyes, he looked scared as he knew that his mistake would not end in good consequences. The fear written on his face told Adrian that he knew Flint was going to be fuming.

"You fucking idiot" flint shouted loudly and Oliver could hear. Oliver could see how angry Flint was and he would definitely never want to be in that beaters position. Ever.

When Slytherins got angry, they got insane.

Flint flew closer to the beater shoving him roughly before flying down to the ground where Rayna and Pucey had landed.

"I think it's broken. I'm gonna take her to Pomfrey" Adrian said to Flint assessing Rayna's shoulder. She winced as Adrian let go of her shoulder.

Flint nodded patting Rayna's good shoulder. "I'll come and see you as soon as I'm finished here, i'm going to kick the shit out of Bole" he growled.

Adrian and Rayna made their way to the opening where Oliver was standing. He ducked out of the way before they could spot him ad quickly walked into the Gryffindor locker room.

He heard the two Slytherin's outside, stopping just outside of the door.

"i'm just gonna grab our bags, will you be okay out here for a sec?" Pucey asked.

"yeah, i''l be fine" she spoke through gritted teeth as her shoulder was causing her pain.

Oliver decided he would step out of the Gryffindor locker room to see if she was okay. The door squeaked making Rayna jump where she stood watching the Slytherin door for Adrian to come out of.

"Carrow" Oliver greeted as they met eyes.

"Wood" she greeted back giving him a small smile but he could see she was in pain, holding her shoulder.

"are you okay?" he asked knowing she wasn't.

"Bludger hit me, guess the beater had pretty bad aim, but ill be alright" Rayna smiled.

How could she be smiling when her shoulder was broken he thought.

She winced in pain as she moved a little.

"Here I'll help you to the hospital wing" Oliver said when Pucey came out with their bags.

"no need to" Pucey said to him glaring.

"okay, well... hope your shoulder get's better soon, i'm sure Pomfrey will fix it in no time" Oliver spoke

"thanks" Rayna replied before walking after Adrian who was a couple spaces ahead.

She glanced behind her to see Oliver staring at the space she had just been standing, he didn't move. She turned to look ahead again watching the back of Adrian as she followed him.

She missed how Oliver looked up, watching her retreating figure until she was out of sight. He then went back into the locker room, taking out his book and beginning to work.

"I'm going to kill that idiot Bole when I see him" Adrian growled "how could he be so stupid to send a bludger with that much force when we were only warming up" he was bitter and really annoyed. Him and Rayna were planning to practice more tricks that evening.

Once they made it to the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey quickly walked over to them fussing over Rayna.

"Oh my dear" she said rushing her to sit down. "Don't worry I can fix bones in a heart beat" she said running to her supply room.

"I've never broken anything in my life" Rayna spoke frowning. It was true, she had never broken anything.

"There's a first for everything" Adrian spoke. It was silent for a couple minutes as Pomfrey made her drink a funny looking potion.

"So you've never broken anything at all?" Adrian asked , she must have broken a dinner plate or a vase before, surely.

"Nope, never" Rayna said.

"Not even someone's heart?" Adrian asked chuckling while raising his eyebrows.

"Guess there's a first time for everything" she laughed with him.

Flint came running into the hospital wing, Adrian still there keeping her company while Madame Pomfrey fixed her shoulder.

"are you okay?" He asked Rayna straight away not paying attention to anyone else.

"I'm fine, just a broken shoulder" she said as if it was nothing.

"Luckily I can easy fix it and it will be back to normal by the end of today" Madame Pomfrey said. Rayna thanked her repeatedly.

"He's lucky I didn't kick him off the team" Flint was speaking to Adrian but Rayna wasn't really paying attention. "i mean what was he thinking. He can't just hit bludgers in random directions. Maybe I should get a new beater and make flyers to see who wants to try out"

Rayna just laughed quietly not knowing how to respond.

Meanwhile, Oliver was getting frustrated at himself. He couldn't think of anything new to try out at practice. None of his plays and strategies in his book would work in their favour against the Slytherins. Sure he could predict some of their new moves from the chasers but the rest of his team seemed to struggle at the game. It had thrown them off.

The only thing Oliver could say to them is to pay attention and be alert. Anything was possible and he wouldn't let his team assume that certain moves were dangerous and that the Slytherin's wouldn't do them. Because Oliver knew they would, they shouldn't be under estimated.

Fred was right that the Slytherins were out for blood this year.

Gryffindor had a big competitor for the house cup and were in danger of losing it due to the teams attitudes towards them. Oliver felt like he was the only one who really cared this year, no one else was taking it seriously enough. Every time he tried to talk to his team they told him he was being silly and that they won so they shouldn't worry.

But the game was down to luck. It was Harry who won it and he didn't want his team to be comfortable with letting the seeker win it. They needed the chasers to put up a fight and score as many as they could so they could still win even if the seeker didn't catch the snitch.

Oliver couldn't stop thinking about how one girl had changed the whole of Slytherin's strategy so drastically. He wasn't prepared for that and it came as a shock. She was going to make this year a lot more harder for him than he had expected.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5_ \- Halloween**

 _ **October 1991**_

* * *

Rayna had woken up earlier than she planned to. She found that she couldn't fall back to sleep and she blamed it on the fact that it was Halloween. She loved Halloween. After Christmas it was her favorite occasion.

She was especially excited to see how Hogwarts would be decorated for the occasion.

The day went by as normal, nothing out of the odd happening. Rayna went to breakfast and then her first class of the day which was defense against the dark arts with Professor Quirrell.

No one took Proffesor Quirrell seriously because of his stutter and how he seemed scared of everyone. Of course the students played to his weakness and never listened to him, acting out of control as Quirrell had none . Rayna tried to take him seriously. She completed her homework that he assigned and she tried to listen to him speaking but he was just so irritatingly boring.

She sighed, giving up listening to him completely and instead turned to roll her eyes at Adrian who sat a couple rows behind her. Adrian brought his hands up to rest one side of his head and pretended to be asleep causing Rayna to laugh at him.

When turning back around to face the front of the class Rayna's eyes met Oliver's. They stared at one another for a few seconds before Oliver broke eye contact.

Rayna turned fully to the front watching as Quirrell droned on.

Flint sat on the opposite side of the room to Rayna and a few rows behind meaning he could see everyone in the classroom.

He didn't miss the quick exchange of glances between Rayna and Wood. Flint frowned not liking that Wood had been given attention from his chaser. Through out the lesson Flint kept seeing Oliver's eyes trail over to look at Rayna. He didn't like it.

At dinner time Rayna sat with Flint next to her, with Adrian and Higgs opposite . They were sitting facing the Gryffindor table and Flint was glaring at the brown haired Gryffindor captain. The great hall looked amazing and Rayna admired the floating pumpkins above her that decorated the sky. The feast was even more amazing, the food was extra special to celebrate and Rayna truly appreciated how amazing magic was.

Oliver didn't know why but he kept finding himself looking for the Slytherin girl where ever he went. Like right now in the great hall for the halloween feast. His eyes involuntarily searched for her before landing on her. She was sat with some of the Slytherin team. As if she could feel his eyes on her, Rayna looked up and straight at him, catching him staring. He quickly looked down at his plate. Rayna carried on looking at him. There was something about him, she just couldn't place her finger on what exactly.

Their exchange didn't go unoticed by Flint yet again.

He frowned staring at the place Oliver was sat at waiting for him to look back over. Flint knew he would.

He was right. Oliver looked up, instead of meeting Rayna's glance he met Flint's glare. Oliver glared back until Flint raised his eyebrow smirking before gesturing to great hall entrance with a nod.

Flint got up from the Slytherin table causing his friends to look at him questioningly.

"I just need to do something really quickly, i'll be back" he said dismissing himself and leaving the great hall.

Oliver got up a couple minutes later, leaving the great hall aswell.

As soon as Oliver stepped out of the hall door his collar was grabbed and he was dragged down two hall ways then shoved against a wall.

"why do you keep looking at her?" Flint growled glaring at the Gryffidor.

Oliver straightened his robes.

"who?" he asked

"don't play stupid, you bloody well know who!" Flint spat

"I don't know what you mean" Oliver spoke

"stop looking at her" Flint growled

"I wasn't-"

"what are you playing at huh? are you trying to get her attention? trying to distract her? Is that your new strategy? distract my star chaser so you can win because you've accepted you can't win any other way?" Flint accussed.

"no, I don't need to distract people to win" Oliver spat

"she's not stupid you know" Flint stepped closer to him in a threatening manor.

"I know" Oliver said shoving him away.

"stay away from her, If I catch you looking her way again-"

"you don't need to threaten me" Oliver glared.

Flint scowled at him before walking away to head back to the Slytherin common room. He was too angry to go back to the feast.

In the great hall Dumbledore was making his speech. Flint wasn't back yet and Rayna had noticed that Oliver was no longer at the Gryffindor table and she couldn't spot him anywhere in the hall.

Suddenly the great hall doors opened with an aggressive bang alarming eeveryone.

"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEONS... thought you ought to know" Proffessor Quirrell screamed before fainting.

A moment of silence passed where students stopped what they were doing. Rayna shared a wide eyed look with Adrian before everyone around them started screaming, standing up eagerly to get away. All hell had broken lose and no one really knew what to do.

"SILENCE" Dumbledore shouted. "prefects, if you please escort your houses to the commons room"

The prefects burst into action in seconds gathering up their houses and making them follow in an orderly way.

Once Rayna and Adrian were outside of the hall a realization hit her.

"Adrain, Flint never came back we should go and get him" Rayna spoke hurriedly and in panic and fear for her friend.

"he can handle himself" Adrian rolled his eyes not particularly interested in looking for Flint.

"Adrian, please" she said

"Rayna- fine, which way did he go?"

"I- I don't know" she panicked

"okay, how about you take the left and i'll take the right, you got your wand?" he asked

"yeah, okay that sounds alright" Rayna spoke before they both took off in different direction, their wands by their sides and searching for Flint.

"Carrow?" some said as soon as she ran around a corner to the left, her hand with her wand automatically came up to her defense. "woah, easy there"

She came face to face with Oliver Wood, dropping her arm with her wand back down to the side.

"why are you running? are you okay?" he asked slightly worried at how shaken up she looked.

"have you seen Flint?" she asked wide eyed.

"yeah he went that way" he said pointing to the place she had just come from. "what's going on?" he asked

"there- there's a troll in the castle- Quirrell-"

Oliver grabbed Rayna by the robes pulling her into an alcove hidden away from the view of anyone in the hall way as he saw a large shadow appear on the wall signally that something large was approaching to turn the corner.

"what are you-"

"shhh" Oliver said placing his hand over her mouth so she wouldn't speak.

Rayna met Olivers eyes before quickly looking at the floor.

Then she heard it. Loud thuds were coming from the hall way where they had just been standing. Rayna's eyes widened and came up to meet Oliver's again as he watched her.

The footstep were growing louder and sounded heavier.

Rayna's breath hitched and she tried to focus her mind on something else than the fact that there was a troll so close to them.

She decided to focus on Oliver's breathing, his hand was sill over her mouth scared she would try and say something.

Rayna didn't really take in how close she was standing to him.

Both of them were holding their breaths as the footstep sounded right outside, the troll had stopped. Rayna's breathing picked up, petrified that they would be seen or heard.

Luckily, the heavy foot steps continued until they could no longer hear them, Oliver's hand finally dropped away from where it was covering Rayna's mouth. They waited another minute, letting themselves calm down and finally breathe.

Only now did they both take in how close they were standing to each other. Rayna looked up to meet Oliver's eyes holding contact for a long few seconds before breaking it and looking at the floor. She took a couple steps backwards from him, putting space between them.

It scared her how much she wanted to be hugged by him and reassured that everything was okay now.

This was odd for Rayna. She never wanted to hug people. She grew up with a family that didn't hug or show any physical emotions. She guessed this was because her Father and Aunt brought her up and neither one of them showed much emotion. They were strict and too formal compared to what the ideal family were like, therefore Rayna was too scared to ever step a foot out of line. She was never rude or ungrateful for anything, even when she knew her Father or Aunt were not being fair.

Rayna couldn't help but think; maybe if her Mother was still alive it would be different.

She craved to be close to someone. Yet it scared her too much to let herself.

Oliver was watching her closely, she hadn't said anything since she stepped away from him.

"are you okay?" he asked quietly, almost a whisper. He felt like he should still be quiet just in case.

She looked up at him nodding. "yeah" She glanced over at the exit of the alcove clearly wanting to leave but instead she turned back to him. "are you... okay?" she asked him back.

Oliver nodded repeating Rayna's previous action.

"we should- I should go find Adrian" she spoke turning to leave. Oliver caught her wrist tugging her back a little.

"are you sure you should go alone? It may not be safe" Oliver asked concerned that the troll could still be lurking in one of the hall ways.

"I-"

"i'll come with you" Oliver said before she could speak, Rayna nodded silently, Oliver dropped his grip on her arm and she allowed him to follow her out of the alcove.

They walked side by side, arms occasionally brushing. Rayna could have moved a couple steps away but she liked the feeling of having someone close to her while walking. Even if they weren't speaking.

Turning the corner the Slytherin and Gryffindor stopped walking as two panicked looking Slytherin's spotted them.

"Ray" Adrian shouted running towards her, he grabbed both of her arms as if to reassure himself that she was safe. "I saw the troll turn to follow the way you went, I was so worried I tried to follow but Professor Snape caught me and sent me the other way." Adrian spoke hurriedly.

"Wood" Flint scoffed as he stood to the side of Pucey.

"Flint" Oliver glared.

"let's go to the common room, Snape said he would be there soon to tell us all what's going on" Adrian said pulling Rayna in the direction of the dungeons.

Rayna spared a look behind her to Oliver giving him a small smile before letting Pucey lead her away.

Oliver watched her retreating figure, something he seemed to do a lot the past couple weeks.

"why were you with her?" Flint demanded not following his fellow Slytherin's.

"why should I tell you-" Oliver was cut off by the Slytherin shoving him.

"what were you doing?" he asked again but this time more aggressively.

"alright- alright" Oliver said putting his hands up to stop the Slytherin from pushing him again. "if you must know, she came looking for you but the troll was there so we had to hide for a bit, nothing else" Oliver said raising his eyebrows at Flint. "why do you even care?" Oliver asked

"if you must know" Flint said sarcastically "Rayna is my star chaser and my friend" he spoke

"friend? don't make me laugh" Oliver chuckled "Slytherin's like you don't have friends"

Flint shoved Oliver roughly.

"shut the fuck up" he said threateningly.

"or what? what are you gonna do?" Oliver challenged.

Flint reached for his wand pressing it against Oliver's throat. Oliver raised one eyebrow at him daring him.

"Mr Flint, Mr Wood" the sound of Professor McGonagle gained both of their attention, Flint hiding his wand behind his back "what in heavens name are you doing here, you should both be in your dormitories, it is not safe"

Flint scoffed before leaving, making his way to the dungeons, leaving Oliver with the Professor.

"is everything okay Mr Wood?" McGonagle asked concerned at the Gryffindor's silence.

"yes Professor" he gave her a small smile, one that didn't convince her. Oliver took off in the direction of the Gryffindor tower leaving McGonagle to watch the keeper's retreating figure. He didn't look as happy as he used to. Maybe she had put too much pressure on him by making him captain.

But she knew he could handle it. He was a very good strategist and player and an even better team motivator. She believed in him and she knew he would not disappoint. She just hoped he didn't focus all of his time and energy into Quidditch and forget about the things that make him happy.

* * *

 **A/n; someone pretty please give me a review, I want to know what you think and I wanna know whose reading. xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 -**

 ** _November_** _ **1991**_

* * *

Oliver was having a bad day.

Just this morning, Gryffindor had a match against Ravenclaw. They won, but only because Harry caught the snitch. If Ravenclaw had scored three more times they would have won without catching the snitch. This did not sit well with Oliver.

This is exactly what Oliver had been trying to explain to his team. None of them seemed to be taking his strategies on board, easily letting the other team score and relying on Harry to catch the snitch. He was not happy with his chasers for letting this situation happen. He knew they could do better but for some reason they didn't try their hardest. Oliver only knew that thy could do better as he had seen them play amazingly over the years.

He had tried scheduling more practices but his team were not happy about it. Every time he tried to talk they rolled their eyes and told him to stop lecturing them.

Angelina had been distracted the whole game, Alicia was glaring at everyone and anything, including her team mates and Katie just looked annoyed at both of them, frustrated that they weren't paying attention. The Gryffindor chasers normally bounced off each other, Oliver wished that they didn't bring personal issues onto the pitch, it affected everyone's game.

Oliver was frustrated at his team and he was going to lock himself in the Gryffindor locker room until he had calmed down enough to face them in the common room later.

He tried to focus on his playbook, flicking through his previous strategies scribbled in ink. However, it just made him more frustrated.

Throwing his playbook at the locker it made an unsatisfying sound.

Standing up and running one hand over his hair in anger, Oliver let out a frustrated shout and slammed his fist into a locker once, then twice. He was met by a much more satisfying bang.

However, his hand tingled painfully as the lockers were charmed not to dent or damage.

Outside, a loud bang could be heard from inside the Gryffindor locker room. Rayna was just coming out of the Slytherin locker door when she heard it.

In concern, she hesitantly knocked on the red and gold door opposite her.

It was quiet on the other side, she couldn't hear any movement. Oliver heard a small knock on the door, he knew it couldn't be any of his team mates as they would have just walked in.

He hesitated before moving to the door. He opened it without looking who was there before walking back into the middle of the room.

"are you okay?" a voice asked. It was the last person he expected it to be. Her voice made his head snap up to meet her eyes.

"i'm fine" he said, voice nearly emotionless.

Standing before him was the girl who had been stressing him out for the past month because of her odd but really effective Quidditch technique's.

"you don't sound or look fine" she spoke walking further into the Gryffindor room. Rayna hadn't spoken to Oliver since Halloween a couple weeks ago. But it didn't feel like that. Just yesterday they caught each other looking at the other across the Great Hall during dinner.

"just stressed" he said not really wanting to tell the Slytherin girl. He didn't think he could trust her, she was a Slytherin and in Oliver's eyes that meant he should be wary. Although she hadn't shown anyone a single reason for being in Slytherin, there must be one that will eventually show.

"why?" she asked curiously.

"Quidditch" he replied.

"Quidditch?" she chuckled a bit. It was odd to her, why would anyone be stressed over Quidditch, it was a fun activity to play. "why are you stressed over Quidditch?" Her eyes scanned over the interior of the locker room. It was the same layout as Slytherin's but the walls were red and the lockers golden compared to green and silver. Her eyes landed on a book that had been thrown to the ground.

 **Quidditch plays**

 _Property of_ **_Oliver Wood_**

Rayna wanted to laugh a little at the fact he had a book dedicated to Quidditch plays. She didn't realize he took it this seriously.

"you want to know why i'm stressed out because of Quidditch" Oliver laughed almost harshly. "becuase it's what I want to do, I want Gryffindor to win to prove I can run a team, but people like you are making it hard"

"people like me?" Rayna asked confused. She hadn't done anything.

"yes, people like you" He said his voice rising along with his frustration.

"what do you mean people like me?" she asked her voice rising a little aswell.

"I had new strategies worked out around the teams, I spent all summer working on them and then you come along and changed the whole of Slytherin's strategies" he glared at her. Suddenly angry at how he wasted his time.

"why are you blaming me? I'm only on the team to have fun" she defended herself.

"it's competitive, you aren't meant to just have fun, you're meant to be in it to win it" Oliver said shocked at how she thought Quidditch was just a bit of fun. It was his life at the moment and he felt insulted. "you're so infuriating" he stressed.

Rayna didn't like this conversation and wished she never bothered to see if he was okay.

"I thought you were nice" she said frowning, dissapointed that he wasn't what she expected him to be like. He had seemed really nice previously.

This shocked Oliver a little, but it was her next words that left him stunned and regretting what he said.

"thank you" she spoke walking towards the door.

"for what?" Oliver asked following her.

"for saving me from that troll on Halloween" she said "but next time, don't bother" she said not facing him and walking out the the door, letting it shut behind her. Oliver's face fell.

He was left feeling bad that he wasn't very nice to her when she had been nothing but. He watched the door as if she would reappear and he could apologize but he knew she had left. He cursed himself silently for taking his anger out on her, she hadn't really done anything wrong and he didn't know why he called her infuriating.

Oliver was having a terrible day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 -** **Christmas**

 **December 7th 1991**

* * *

The last match before Christmas came quicker than expected. The year was going too fast for Rayna and it scared her.

It was another Slytherin vs Gryffindor match and Slytherin had been training harder than they ever had before now they knew they had a great chance at winning. Rayna, Adrian and Flint had all been dedicated to throwing themselves into training, finding the best techniques that worked for them all. They knew each others plays inside out and were showing a very strong front.

The great hall was a hive of activity this morning, much like it was everytime there was a quidditch match. The Slytherin team sat together eating breakfast and excitedly talking between themselves minus Adrian who seemed to be in a foul mood. The gryffindor team were opposite them at the lions table, however the atmosphere was more tense, no one was talking much.

Angelina was picking at her food while Katie was pushing her toast side to side on her plate in disinterest. The Weasley twins were talking between themselves occasionally laughing at something the other said.

"the Gryffindors all look like they woke up on the wrong side of the bed today" Flint stated happily while munching away on his toast and grinning to himself.

Rayna glanced over to the Gryffindor table curiously. She observed how they weren't interacting with each other. However, her eyes landed on the captain who looked tired. But that wasn't what caught her attention.

Oliver was talking with the blonde haired Alicia Spinnet, they seemed closer than normal, Oliver leaning down towards her so he could hear her. Alicia let out a laugh, her hand resting on Oliver's arm in a flirtatious manner.

Rayna looked away paying attention to what Flint was now speaking excitedly about.

She turned her attention to Adrian who had been abnormally quiet throughout the whole of breakfast. He was glaring at his empty plate not blinking.

"you alright?" Rayna whispered so only he could hear.

Adrian only responded by flicking his eye from his plate to Rayna, his glare turning into a softer expression. He nodded quickly and Rayna took that as him saying he would tell her later.

"do you think Adrian's alright?" Rayna asked Flint as they walked ahead of their team to the pitch. It was still early and the air was freezing. The grass had frosted over, crunching beneath their feet as they walked.

"yeah, he's always like this a couple weeks before Christmas break." Flint responded.

"does it effect his game?" she asked curiously, worrying about how well he would work with them when he wasn't in the mood to interact.

Flint smirked glancing at her from the side.

"what?"

"if you thought Adrian was a good chaser when he's in a good mood, just wait until you see him play today." Flint spoke smirking again.

Rayna understood what Flint had been talking about. Adrian was playing the best that Rayna had seen him. He was more aggressive than normal but just as determined and no one seemed to want to get near enough to him to snatch the quaffle.

Snow was falling heavily from the grey sky clouding everyone's sight but the game was still in full swing. Rayna dropped the quaffle bellow as Angelina Johnson made her way straight towards her. Adrian was there to catch it before speeding down the pitch and scoring. The Slytherin stands were chanting Adrians name but Adrian didn't react, he kept the same emotionless expression on his face.

The Gryffindor supporters were becoming fed up. They were cold and starting to get covered in thick blankets of snow, many of them glaring up at the sky at their players who were obviously having a bad playing day.

Rayna clasped the quaffle that Flint sent her way, dodging Katie Bell and making her way to the Gryffindor hoops. She didn't look Oliver's way once, scoring in the middle hoop. She turned away as quickly as she had scored not wanting to see the keeper. She missed the look he sent her, full with regret and confusion. He didn't think what he had said was that bad. He didn't mean to offend her.

 ** _"you're infuriating"_**

His words from the Gryffindor locker room repeating in her mind as she brushed away a clump of snow that landed just below her eye.

"Higgs has caught the snitch. 220 - 140. Slytherin wins" Lee Jordan's voice broke through the air. He didn't sound too enthusiastic but he was drowned out by the uproar of the Slytherin supporters shouting happily and cheering loudly. A win against Gryffindor was there favorite kind of win after all.

Rayna smiled brightly at Flint as they made their way towards the ground. ONce they all hopped of their brooms Rayna ran to Terrance to hug him, congratulating him for catching the snitch.

"welldone!" Rayna said excitedly.

"thanks, seemed Potter was distracted the whole game" he spoke smiling.

"I think all of them were" Flint laughed gesturing to where the Gryffindor team stood a good ten meters away from them.

They all watched curiously as the defeated team were sulking as Oliver was shouting something at them.

"what the hell was wrong with you all today?" Oliver was almost shouting.

Angelina was glaring at the floor as if it had done something terrible.

"Katie, you were missing the quaffle everytime and Angelina you seemed to back out every time you went to snatch the quaffle."

Suddenly Angelina looked up meeting Rayna's eyes and glaring harshly at her.

This took Rayna a back, confusing her.

"you can't blame us for everything, you missed alot of goals today." Angelina scoffed back at him

It was true, Oliver had been very distracted today and he may have let a lot more goals than he normally did through.

He sighed before telling them all to go to the locker room.

Most of the Slytherin team were laughing at the interactions. However, Rayna was too focused on Adrian who had already started walking away.

She was concerned about him. Even though Flint had said not to worry as he was always like this closer to Christmas.

Oliver was devestated to lose against Slytherin.

He had been cooped up all week trying to come up with strategies, but the Slytherins were too unpredictable that nothing could be set.

It didn't help that his team were unfocused again.

He didn't understand what was wrong with the girls. Even more he didn't understand what was wrong with him today. He admits he played terribly. He hadn't let that many shots in ever. Maybe he was being a little hard on his team today, but he was just so frustrated he felt that he couldn't not say anything to them.

Rayna was following Adrian up to the castle, walking fast to try and catch up with him. But she was a lot shorter than him and was proving difficult.

She hurried through the front gates losing sight of Adrian.

"and where are you going in such a rush?" someone said stepping through one of the lower windows from the court yards.

"if it isn't our favorite little Slytherin" someone else said stepping through the window on the other side of her.

"Fred" she nodded at him turning the other way and doing the same for George.

"always amazes me how you do that" George said.

"we were just wondering if you knew why our dear captain is so frustrated at Slytherin" Fred asked.

"probably because we just beat him at his one true love" she shrugged.

"he's been like it all week though, everytime someone mentions Slytherin he gets this mad look" Fred spoke.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" she said frowning.

"we were just thinking-"

"nothing, we were thinking nothing" George said smiling while cutting his twin off. "have a good day now" he said dragging Fred away.

"see you around Ray" Fred called.

How very odd she thought before going back to her mission to find Adrian.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - Christmas Eve**

 **December 24th 1991**

* * *

It was Christmas eve and Rayna had been home from Hogwarts for a couple of days now. She didn't mind Christmas, but she was never that excited for it. Since her mother died when she was young they didn't really celebrate it much. There was no tree or expensive feasts of food and Christmas pudding. Rayna only received few gifts from her friends and occasionally a present from her father and aunt.

This year Rayna found herself home alone. Her Father and Aunt had left a couple hours ago claiming they had a very important meeting to attend which would take all day.

Rayna wasn't really bothered. She would rather spend Christmas eve alone than have to sit in a room with her Aunt.

Since she had been at Hogwarts her Fathers mansion looked like it hadn't been lived in much. It was dusty and cold. The house elves hadn't cleaned which was rather odd to her.

"Dyllan" Rayna called the Carrows family house elf. He appeared in a couple seconds.

"yes mistress Carrow"

"why is it so dusty everywhere?" she asked looking at the house elf curiously.

"Master Amycus told Dyllan not to clean so Dyllan has not cleaned" he replied looking down at the floor.

"that's unusual" she replied frowning. "sorry to bother you" Rayna apologized.

"Dyllan is not bothered Mistress Rayna, Dyllan lives to serve the Carrows, Dyllan likes Mistress Rayna and does not mind talking to her"

"thank you Dyllan" she said smiling at the elf before leaving the room.

The loud sound of the mansion door bell could be heard echoing through the empty entrance hall. Rayna wasn't expecting any one and couldn't think who it must be.

She made her way to front door, her wand at her side as she opened the door just in case.

"Adrian?" she asked as her eyes landed on him.

He had a bag with him, his hood pulled up over his hair. He was looking down at the floor. However as he heard Rayna's voice he looked up and met her eyes, sighing in relief that she answered the door.

"I-I didn't know where to go" he stuttered, voice shaky. Only now did Rayna see how red and blotchy his face was, there were dark bags under his eyes indicating he hadn't had much sleep. But the worst thing was the giant cut across the side of his forehead that was bleeding and starting to form a purple and green bruise.

"oh god, Adrian" Rayna gasped, taking his arm and pulling him inside. She hugged him tightly as he started to cry.

"I couldn't stay there any more" he cried hugging her back.

"it's fine, everything will be okay, you can stay here for the rest of Christmas" Rayna said comforting him.

After Adrian had recovered enough to speak he told Rayna everything.

"My Father is horrible person" he started "My Mother walked out on us when I was 11, she didn't love him anymore and couldn't stand to be with him. But he won't accept that as the truth. He likes to drown himself in firewhiskey and then blame me. He said she left because I was sorted into Slytherin. They're both Gryffindors and apparently I was a disappointment to her." he said shaking his head slowly and then chuckling spitefully " I don't see how he was a Gryffindor, he's a coward, he can't face the truth and he never will. I hate him" he spat clenching his fists.

Rayna calmed him down, patting his shoulder.

"Dyllan" she called and the elf appeared before her. "could you make us some tea please and fetch some bandages and water please"

"certainly, Misstress Rayna, Dyllan would love to make Misstress Rayna and her friend some tea"

"thank you" she called after him.

"you're not a dissapointment, to either of them" Rayna said " they're both cowards, they don't deserve to have you as there son."

"you're the only one I could go to about this" he said genuinely thankful that Rayna was such a good friend. "everyone else would laugh. They think having Gryffindors as parents is easy because they think all Gryffindors are good. But how can they be good when one walks away from their own child and the other blames him for his problems." Adrian said.

After Rayna helped clean Adrians cut with a couple spells she learn't, she wrapped the bandages that Dyllan gave her around his head.

"so how come you're alone on Christmas eve?" he asked her curious as to why her Father wasn't there.

"him and my Aunt had a meeting somewhere" she replied obviously not wanting to really talk about it. "I can show you around if you want" she said.

"okay" he shrugged not really minding what they did.

Rayna had never seen the mansion so empty. They made there way up several stairs, all the ornaments from the shelves were gone and all the pictures that once hung above the wall were no where to be seen.

"I don't know why everywhere is so bare, it never used to be like this" Rayna said concerned. They made their way to the top floor where the attic was. It was stacked with boxes full of all the things that used to be around the mansion. "I don't understand"she said, Picking up one of her favorite pictures that used to hang directly in the middle of the stairs wall. It was a simple pictures of stars reflecting over a lake. Trees silhouetted in black against the blueish colors used.

They moved out of the attic and Rayna was feeling curious and slightly uneasy about everything.

She tried to open the door to where she knew her Farther's study was. She rattled the door handle but it wouldn't open.

"Alohmora" she whispered flicking her wand at it. It unlocked and she moved to open it.

Adrian stopped her, holding her wrist.

"do you think you should go in there? It was locked, it could be dangerous" he said in worry.

She ignored him, opening the door with a creak.

It was dark and messy, but she didn't want to open the blinds.

"lumos" Adrian whispered and a light appeared at the tip of his wand.

"lumos" Rayna copied him.

"it looks like someones turned this room over" Adrian said

"I've never been allowed in here" she said, her free hand moving some papers on the table.

It was odd as she noticed they were all old newspaper articles. She brought her wand closer, squinting her eyes to try and read the headlines.

 _ **Murder? Or Accident? The Ministry appeal on the case of Jolie Carrow.**_

 ** _A witness has come forward and re opened the case of Jolie Carrow. The Ministry had put the case to rest with the outcome of a natural death. However, in recent events and the dark powers that try to infiltrate the ministry, a witness who has come forward has raised concerns that this case was a cause from dark magic._**

Rayna's heart stopped. She never knew this. She had been told that her Mother died of a heart attack. But it was possible that she could have been murdered.

She moved the article away feeling sick.

Adrian took it off her, reading what she had just read as she carried on looking through the papers. They all had similar headlines.

She opened the middle draw of the desk, searching for more. She moved stacks of letters, flipping through them until one caught her eye.

It was addressed to her.

She turned it over to look at the seel, finding it had already been opened.

 ** _Rayna,_**

 ** _Find OoP if you think you are in trouble, they will help you. I want you to go searching for the answers of the questions that I know you have. Minerva McGonagle will help you if you ask, you can trust her. Be Careful. I love you._**

 ** _Mum_**

"Adrian" Rayna asked shakily "Whar's OoP?"

Adrian took the letter off of her reading it quickly.

"I don't know" he said looking at her to make sure she was okay.

The slam of the front door made them both jump.

Rayna hid the letter back where she found it before thy both ran out of the room, locking the door behind them and running down the stairs to the third floor.

Composing themselves, they both walked down to the ground floor where thy came face to face with Rayna's father and aunt.

"whose this?" her Father asked

"Adrian Pucey, a friend from school, he's on the same Quidditch team" Rayna spoke

Her Father nodded at him before dismissing himself to go to his room.

Rayna's aunt stared at her curiously as Rayna smiled. She always felt uneasy around her Aunt, there was something about the way she hardly spoke to Rayna, instead staring at her in silence before leaving.

Once they were out of sight Rayna's smile fell. The letter from her mother was overwhelming.

"what do you think McGonagle knows?" Adrain asked Rayna once they were in her room.

"I-I don't know" she said "I'm more curious about what Oop means and I'm confused as to why or how they would help me when I don't even need help" she said.

"everything's never as it seems Rayna" Adrian spoke "you have to be careful"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9** _ **\- New year**_

 _ **January 1st 1992**_

* * *

Rayna and Adrian kept themselves busy over the rest of the Christmas holidays. They mainly stayed at the Carrows mannor, thinking and wondering. Adrian was trying to get Rayna to remember her mother and any other unusual things that she hadn't thought of before. However, this was unsuccessful. Rayna couldn't think of any odd moments she had encountered. If being honest, Rayna couldn't think of many family encounters at all, they didn't ever do much when she was younger. Her aunt and Father were always out doing something, leaving her with a nanny or the Flint family.

They hadn't gone back to the room where Rayna found the note addressed to herself. They were both too scared of getting caught by Rayna's Father or worse; her aunt. It was obvious that the room was full of important documents and it scared Rayna of what she may find if she had a proper loo.

Today Rayna and Adrian had gone to meet Flint and Higgs in Diagon alley. It was the first day of the new year and the streets were busy with families looking for room in small shops and cafe's to eat. Diagonally always amazed Rayna, she thought it was the most magical place; after Hogwarts of course. She loved the atmosphere, it was always energetic and full of happiness and made her smile.

"so how was staying at the Carrows for Christmas?" Flint asked Adrian, smirking slightly.

"it was good" Adrian replied "a lot better than being stuck at home, although, Rayna's aunt is a bit scary" he chuckled.

They all laughed at this including Rayna. It was true.

"she is pretty scary" She said. "and strange, very strange" she laughed.

They walked around for a while, laughing and joking, catching up on each others lives and what they had done over the holidays.

"I need to go to the book store" Flint huffed "I told my Father I would get him a book he asked for" they all followed him into Flourish and Blotts.

There were books stacked upon books. Old, new, thin and thick. Rayna's eyes scanned them all as she followed Flint into the section of books in the far end of the store.

A sign caught her eye. **_Quidditch._**

"I'm just going to head over to the quidditch section" she told the Slytherin boys. They all nodded as she left to the other side of the store.

Trailing her index finger over the edges of the books in the Quidditch section, Rayna's eyes searched for a book on plays. Her hand stopped when she read the title of what she wanted. Smiling to herself she took the book off the shelf before flipping through it. It wouldn't hurt to buy it she thought.

Turning around the corner to find her way back to the other side of the store, Rayna collided with a taller body, stopping suddenly with shock.

"i'm so sorry sir" she apologised looking up to see that she had walked straight into a middle aged man wearing a suit. She instantly felt embarassed and a little intimidated.

"it's alright my dear. Say, is that a book about Quidditch plays?" he asks her as his sight falls to her hands gripping the small book.

"yes sir" she replied "I thought I could study new plays to try out at hogwarts next year" she said feeling less intimidated now the man had engaged in conversation.

"which house are you in, may I ask?" he said interested.

"Slytherin, sir"

"ahh, my boys number one competition" he chuckled. "he's always talking about needing to beat your team, you must be good" he smiled kindly.

Just then Oliver Wood and his mother walked around the corner wondering why his Father was taking so long. Oliver looked shocked to see his father conversing with the Slytherin girl that Oliver couldn't help but think about over the Christmas holidays.

"Wood" she acknowledged him with a small smile, turning to the woman next to him and smiling at her. Oliver's hair had grown a little over Christmas, it was falling over his forehead messily and Rayna couldn't help but find it attractive.

"I should go and find my friends, It was nice to meet you Mr wood. Hope you and your family have a happy new year" she smiled at him before leaving.

"Happy New Year" Oliver's Father called to her, she threw him one last smiled before disappearing around the corner.

"she was very pretty" Oliver's mother said "who is she?"

"She is" Oliver said awkwardly, coughing a little to cover up what he said in hope his mother didn't hear. She did however, smiling slightly to herself. But she's a Slytherin" Oliver spoke.

"and?" his mother questioned, it never mattered to her what houses people were in, she was always friends with everyone.

"she seemed very polite for a Slytherin" Oliver's dad spoke to his wife. "seemed like a lovely young girl. She had a book on Quidditch plays" he said eyeing Oliver up slightly, before smirking.

He could tell his son didn't really want to talk to them about her and he figured there must be something between the two as Oliver had turned awakward around them, something in which his parents rarely saw.

Oliver didn't say anything, instead choosing to walk off. He missed the smile that his parents shared behind him, chuckling lightly to each other and shaking their heads in amusement.

Oliver saw Rayna with some of the guys from the Slytheirn quidditch team, laughing at something Pucey was saying. He glared their direction before walking out of the shop, not waiting for his parents.

* * *

 **A/N: I got over 1000 views ayyy, thank you for reading (this is a pretty short chapter but I wanted to update)! Please let me know what you think so far xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10** \- Valentines day

 _February 14th 1992_

* * *

Slytherin had won their last match against Hufflepuff putting them through to play Gryffindor in the final next Saturday. Flint had them training constantly through the week, before classes and after classes.

Today was a Saturday and Flint had given the Slytherin team a day off. Rayna had spent the morning in the library trying to find what OoP meant. She searched through books and documents and a couple old newspapers. But she came up unsuccessful. There was no mention of OoP in anything.

Frustrated and annoyed, Rayna decided to leave the library. She hadn't seen Adrian or Flint all day and suspected they would be at Hogsemead like the large majority of students. It was valentines day after all. Hogwarts was a buzz in the morning at breakfast, just like it is every time there is a special occasion.

Although Rayna didn't think Valentines day was that special, she didn't see the big fuss. She had sat at breakfast alone watching various couples stuck together, talking and laughing. She just ate her heart shaped toast in silence before she had enough and left to the library.

Maybe she would wander down to Honeydukes and treat herself to a chocolate frog she thought and then maybe she could go to a book store and ask if they knew anything about OoP. Rayna decided that it was a good idea and started to make her way out of the castle, crossing the court yard and walking down the path to Hogsmede. She was determined to find out more, she had a bad feeling that people around her had been lying to her the whole of her life.

It was still cold out, Rayna was wrapped in her winter coat and boots, thankful that she had decided to bring her gloves and scarf too but resentful as she left her wool hat in her dorm room. But at least the snow had cleared up which meant that Quidditch would be slightly easier next week.

Rayna had made her way to Hogsmede quicker than expected, she must have walked faster having been lost in her own thoughts. Luckily Hogsmede hadn't re decorated to fit in with the valentines theme like Hogwards had. There was only so much love she could handle having to see. Unfortunately, Hogsmede was full with couples everywhere she looked, but she decided it would be easy to pretend that they didn't exist.

She made her way to the only book shop that she knew of that was in Hogsmede. The bell chimed as she walked in causing a few wizards and witches to glance her way before going back to scanning book shelves for what they were looking for.

She didn't know where to start. Magical artefacts? - It didn''t sound like that section would be helpful. Potions, magical creatures, Muggle books, defence against the dark arts, History, Maps. Nothing stood out to her.

"can I help you Miss?" a middle aged man approached her seeing the lost look on her face.

"I- I don't fully know what I'm actually looking for" she stuttered, embarrassed slightly.

"do you know what topic?" he asked trying to pry more information so he could help.

"I was reading a- um a old newspaper article and I came across the Acronym of OoP" she said. "I don't know what it stands for and can't find anyway of knowing."

"OoP" he repeated thinking but nothing came to mind. "OoP" he repeated again.

Rayna waited, looking at the man as he thought, she hoped he would recognize it but his face looked fairly blank so she knew the answer before he spoke again.

"It doesn't ring any bells and I wouldn't know where to start looking." he spoke sympathetically. "you could- you could try the shop on the bottom corner of the street. Mr Portendorfer is a very knowledgeable man, there's a possibility he would know. He collects papers and documents, old ministry policies, he lets some 7th year students borrow them for essays as long as they return them."

"thank you" Rayna said, her eyes lighting up with hope. She left the shop, thanking the man again. He smiled politely back at her before going to ask another customer if hey needed any assistance.

Rayna walked to the end of Hogsmede, to the shop that was on the corner. She had never walked this far before and barely knew some of these shopps that existed.

MR Portendorfer's papers and Policies. There was a small hanging sign, barely readable and rusted, swinging slighting in the cold wind.

The bell clanged once when she stepped inside the doorway. It was dark but surprisingly clean. She expected it to be dusty and smell like old papers. There was no one on the shop floor except herself and an elderly man who was sat hunched over the front desk sifting through papers. He looked up as soon as he heard the bell.

She wondered why she had never heard of this place before and why there wasn't anyone else inside.

She approached the front desk smiling slightly hoping the man would show some kind of expression.

"Hi, i'm looking for Mr Portendorfer" she spoke steadily, even though she was nervous.

"that would be me" He spoke, smiling kindly. "what can I do for you today"

Rayna breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't really know where to start looking, I've already searched the library and in bookstore but I can't find anything." Raynas frustration was becoming apparent to the elderly man.

"I can assure you that you have come to the right place, Miss Carrow" He said. Rayna at his eyes shocked at how he knew she was a Carrow. Mr Portendorfer chuckled before standing up straight and moving his papers to the side. "you look like your mother" he spoke kindly.

"how did you know her?" Rayna asked interested. She was always wanting to know about he mother and would always take the opportunity to find out more about her.

"she used to come here a lot. Do you know why you've never hear of this shop before?" he spoke "It's because students only come here when they can't find what they need in the library, or if they want to learn about specific policies that allowed certain events to happen. The ministry got rid of a lot of policies they were embarrassed of, but I have them, every single one. Your mother was interested in them, she wanted to learn them to make sure that she never made those mistakes. You see, she aspired to be a part of the ministry. She protested for equal opportunities for all wizards no matter what their status. A lot of people didn't like it." Rayna took all this information in.

"My Father must have hated that" she spoke frowning.

"Oh dear, I don't think Carrow was aware" he spoke. "anyway, what can I help you with today?" he asked curiously.

"I was reading an old newspaper article and the letters OoP stood out. I've been trying to find out what they stand for but it's proving to be difficult." she said

"OoP" he spoke nodding "yes, yes." he shuffled to the corner of a case tapping his wand against a draw. He moved to the side as it extended out at least four meters. He seemed to know exactly what he was looking for, grabbing a thin title page of the daily prophet and handing it to her.

"It's only ever mentioned once in the entirety of the daily prophet. A mistake made by ministry. It was supposed to be secretive" he handed her the paper.

Rayna skimmed her eyes over it seeing the letters OoP. But the article never expanded on what it stood for.

"It doesn't say what it stands for" she spoke. Mr Portendorfer looked down at his desk.

"yes. That is correct. I in fact do not fully know what it stands for my dear. I too have been wondering for years. I have a feeling we are not meant to know, my guess is a ministry organisation an army. Something that they do not want the wizarding people to know."

"an organisation?" Rayna pondered over it.

"I wish I could help you further" He sighed sounding defeated. It was as if the topic that had been frustarting Rayna the past weeks had also been a topic that Mr Portendorfer had been trying to figure out."

"thank you for all your help" Rayna spoke to the man.

"it was no problem, I only wish I knew more." he spoke sadly.

"if I ever find out, I will make sure I tell you" Rayna spoke, this made Mr Portendorfer smile, he wasn't sure he had much longer to find out. He knew things were changing in the Wizarding world. He knew the dark were on the rise again.

"Goodbye Rayna" he smiled as she left the shop.

Walking quickly back to the center of Hogsmede Rayna though about the elder mans words about her mother. She couldn't help the feeling of pride swelling in her chest. It made her extremely happy. Her Father and Aunt were snobbish purebloods who hated those of lower blood status. It was nice to know someone else in her family cared about all statuses.

Rayna came to a stop when her eyes landed on a familiar figure.

Adrian was standing a meter away from a short Hufflepuff girl who had tears in her eyes. Adrian looked furious and was shouting. Rayna watched to see if she should step in at any point.

"what did you think this was?" he laughed coldly. Rayna had never seen him like this, angry and red in the face, his posture aggressive and threatening towards the smaller hufflepuff girl who looked like she was cowering away.

"but its valentines day" the girl said timidly, taking a small step away from him.

"just becuase i asked you here doesn't mean i want to date you " he scoffed looking at her with disgust.

"then why?" she cried, tears now falling down her face rapidly. Rayna was frowning at his behaviour. This wasn't him, he was normally a lovely person.

"you were a good shag thought we could do it again, but apparently bloody not because you're incapable and want something more from me" he said disgusted at the thought.

"you're a pig" the girl looked angry now. She had finally found some ounce of courage to stand up to him.

"aw how cute" he mocked her laughing loudly.

"stay away from me" she spat, her fists clenching by her sides.

"gladly, wouldn't want to be near someone whose that easy anyway" he called after her.

She looked hurt at that comment giving him a dissapointed look before leaving.

"Pucey" Rayna said angrily walking over to him "what the hell was that!"

"Rayna please don't start" he sighed.

"why did you treat that girl like shit?" She demanded "no one deserves that"

"it's just easier that way" he spoke his whole aggressive persona fading away as quickly as the sun melted the snow a couple days ago.

"easier how?" she spoke

"to avoid disappointment"

"you're ridiculous" sh shook her head at him.

They walked around in silence, Rayna didn't want to interrupt his thoughts, she could see how distant he looked.

Rayna eventually got bored and decided to lead them to the three broomsticks for butterbeers as she was getting colder and colder. She saw Flint and Higgs sitting at a table in the middle of the room and ordred two butterbeers before leading Pucey over to sit with them.

"what's up" Higgs spoke as they sat down.

"there's so many couples around" Rayna spoke.

"tell me about it, makes me feel sick" Flint spoke.

"only because you can't get a girl" Higgs joked making everyone laugh, even Adrian.

They spoke for a while, making joke before turning to talk about Quidditch. They were all excitedly talking about what they would do if they beat Gryffindor next week.

The bell to the door chimed, not many people noticed but Rayna looked up to see who had walked in.

She was about to look away until she saw who it was.

Oliver Wood confidently looked around to find a seat. It was then that she noticed he wasn't alone. He was holding the hand of the familiar Gryffindor chaser, Alicia Spinnet. Rayna's eyes followed them until they sat down closely next to each other, laughing and whispering between them.

Rayna watched them interact, her heart racing, she felt panicky and she couldn't understand. She tore her eyes away from them not wanting to be caught staring.

She frowned before taking a sip of her drink. She couldn't help but occasionally glance their way, she wasn't sure why but her eyes just kept landing on them. She was analyzing how Oliver was acting. He was relaxed and smiling, laughing loud enough that she could hear him from where she sat. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous. The only time shes ever spoken to him he's been the opposite. All angsty and stressed, frustrated and picking fights.

It was hard for her to tell who the real Oliver was. It seemed he had fronts put up in place for certain people. It made Rayna even more curious about the boy.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11** \- The Final match

 _16th May 1992_

* * *

It was a sunny Saturday morning and the great hall was buzzing. Slytherin and Gryffindor were drawing points therefore they had to play each other again to decide who would win the house cup.

It seemed that everywhere she looked Oliver and Alicia were there. They had been an official couple for nearly two months now and Rayna didn't like it. She had always thought there was some kind of tension between her and Oliver, they were always catching each other glances and looking at the other. But maybe she was just making it up.

Rayna had other things on hr mind as well as the situation with Oliver. Adrian was looking worse and worse the past weeks. He looked constantly tired and his energy at training was lacking most days. Rayna was really worried about him.

"I want you to all play as well as you can today." Flint was giving them a team talk at breakfast. "Rayna please eat something" he spoke glancing at her before going back to talking. "this is a very important game and we need to focus. No one do anything stupid or show off to the Gryffindors. Other days that's fine, but today I will not be happy. We have to win this."

He received nods from the team, everyone quiet as the nerves kicked in. The house cup meant a lot to the Slytherin's, even if they didn't always show it much.

"Ray" Flint spoke "eat"

"i'm too nervous I think it would just come back up" she said

"there's no need to be nervous, you will be amazing as always, but you need your strength so please eat something, even if it's just some toast." Flint wasn't satisfied until he saw her reach for a slice of toast and began nibbling on it.

"Higgs, I need you to focus fully today, you should have an advantage already. Potter gets distracted too easily and the beaters are focusing on sending bludgers his way." Flint said.

Higgs nodded silently.

"I want us to work together okay? communication is key today and we need to constantly mix things up, be as unpredictable as you can, we know how much that messes with Wood- Pucey are you even listening to me?"

This gained the dark brown haired boys attention.

"yep" he said monotonously.

That was a good enough answer for Flint.

He finished his own breakfast before making sure everyone finished there's then ushered them all to the pitch to get extra warm up time.

"no cheating" FLint spoke once they were all in their Quidditch robes and about to go out onto the pitch. "and if you do I wont be happy, but please don't make it obvious if you foolishly decide to"

They made their way to the pitch, the sun blindingly bright for the morning.

"Adrian, Ray practice long passes" Flint ordered. "Bole, Bletchley work on your aim for 10 and Higgs practice some dives" The team split to warm up after flying a couple laps around the pitch.

The stands had started to fill up, Slytherin flags clashing with Gryffindor. There were chants already, the Gryffindors louder drowning out the Slytherins.

The Gryffindors joined them in the air to warm up themselves while flint called the Slytherins into formation.

"everyone remember what I said? you all need to focus if not i'll borrow a bat and hit a bludger at you to get you into focus" Flint shouted so they could hear.

The whistle blew for the captains to fly to Madame Hooch. The rest of the players took their starting positions.

"I say this every time but I mean it. I want a nice clean game." The captains shook hands Oliver smirking at Flint. Flint glared at him before flying off.

"and Carrow catches the quaffle starting the match in Slytherin's possession" Lee Jordans voice rang through the pitch. "she passes it to Pucey who passes it to Flint. Flint nears the Gryffindor hoops and is about to shoot- and he drops the quaffle straight to Carrow who shoots. Ten points to Slytherin."

The Slytherin stands cheered loudly and Rayna smiled to herself.

"focus" Flint called out to his team.

Oliver Wood was sweating he was that nervous. He knew Slytherin were going to have something up their sleeves. He could see the determined looked on each of their faces.

He knew his team were already thrown off from the goal Slytherin had just scored, it hadn't even been 5 minutes.

"Slytherin are in possession again, Carrow throwing the Quaffle to Pucey, Johnson punching it out from behind his arm."

Rayna tailed Angelina Johnson before doing the exact same move she had done with Adrian and knocking the quaffle out of her arms it fell to where Flint was, waiting to catch it, he caught it and flew off to the Gryffindor hoops.

"Wood blocks the goal" Lee Jordan sounded excited at a Gryffindor come back. Flint glared at the keeper before chasing down Alicia Spinnet. She didn't get far until Adrian knocked the quaffle from her hands and sending it Rayna's way. She dodged a bludger that came her way, sending a small raise of the eyebrows at one of the Weasley twins who smiled sheepishly back and mouthed sorry. She went back to flying at full speed, approaching Oliver.

She was determined to score. She threw the quaffle with as much force as she could but it was blocked by Oliver who smirked at her. She flew around him as he watched her, he threw the quaffle to Katie Bell before watching Rayna again.

"nice save" she called out to him.

Before he knew it Pucey had approached the hoops, Quaffle in hand and threw it to the left side, Oliver flew as fast as he could, reaching out and skimming his fingertips against the quaffle, but it was too late.

"10 points to Slytherin." The Slytherin stands were cheering louder.

Oliver was confused, he had been too distracted by her to realise that Pucey had the quaffle. He made a stupid mistake and stopped watching the game for 10 seconds and he let a goal through. He was disappointed in himself.

The game seemed to last for hours, both teams were putting up a tough fight but it was obvious they were all tiring. The snitch had yet to make an appearance.

The score was close, 160 - 180 to Slytherin.

"Higgs has seemed to spot the snitch" Lee voiced sounding more enthusiastic at the thought of the game being over soon.

Rayna watched as Harry Potter was the other side of the pitch flying as fast as he could towards where Higgs was now diving down to the ground.

"Ray" Adrian called getting her attention before throwing her the quaffle" she made for the Gryffindor keeper but half way was stopped when Lee announced that Slytherin had won.

They had won the house cup.

Rayna landed on the ground running towards her team mates in excitement.

"we won! WE bloody won!" Flint was cheering noticing Rayna approaching them. He lifted her up spinning her in excitement before putting her back down. She ran to HIggs who looked proud of himself.

"you did amazing" she spoke to him putting her arms around his waist from the side, he pulled her into him and smiled in return before hugging her.

"you played amazing as always Ray" he spoke.

"I'm proud of you all" Flint announced "welldone!"

"don't turn soft on us now" Adrian said as Flint playfully shoved him.

It was only then that Rayna saw the Gryffindors up ahead. None of them were talking, their heads hung low in disappointment.

Oliver looked up meeting her eyes, she smiled sympathetically at him, Oliver tried his best to return it but it was small and didn't reach his eyes.

Oliver was angry at himself and angry at his team. They lost concentration, in fact they were lacking it from the start, himself included.

The gryffindors all got changed, no one sticking around for a shower.

"i'm sorry Oliver" Katie Bell said after everyone else had left to go back to the castle. She took a seat next to her captain who was sitting on the middle bench. She could see something was troubling her. "you were distracted by her" she spoke "it's alright you know, just becuase she's a Slytherin. You can still be her friend" Katie spoke. Oliver nodded.

Friend. That label didn't quite fit what Rayna was to him.

"hey...maybe next year" Katie shurgged. He gave her a small smile as she gathered her bags and followed after the others.

Eventually Oliver dragged himself out of the locker room. He had been avoiding having to go back to the Gryffindor common room for as long as he could.

"Finally! was starting to think you'd drowned yourself or something" Rayna spoke once Oliver came out of the door. She was sat on the bench outside the Slytherin locker room.

"what do you want?" he asked not meaning to be rude.

"just wanted to say you played brilliantly" she smiled up at him before standing up and walking towards him. "good game" she said stretching her arm out to shake his hand.

He chuckled before accepting "well Played Carrow" he said.

Rayna turned to walk away but he stopped her.

"its your fault you know" he sighed

"not this again" she spoke rolling her eyes and laughing lightly.

"you're too distracting" he whispered loud enough for her to hear.

He wallked closer to her as she looked at the ground in confusion.

"you're driving me crazy and you don't even realise" he said a finger coming up to tilt her chin making her look at him.

"what abou-

"shhh" he spoke softly. His eyes flickered to hers before glancing at her lips, he leaned in as she closed her eyes. Rayna couldn't help but lean forward towards him, pressing herself closer to him as he kissed her softly. Her breath hitched, shocked at what was happening, Oliver pressed his lips to hers more forcefully and only then did she kiss back.

Pulling away he rested his forehead on hers, she still had her eyes closed.

"w-what does this mean?" she asked backing away from him.

"it means- it means we're friends" Oliver said. He was freaking out inside completely forgetting about Alicia when he was around the girl in front of him.

"friends? friends don't do that Oliver" she said still slightly in shock.

He smirked slightly trying to play off the fact that he was nervous and had no idea what he was doing.

"see you around Carrow" he said before taking off towards the castle, taking a deep breath so he could return his breathing back to normal.

Rayna stared at his retreating figure in shock at the situation. Who knew Oliver Wood had that in him.

He obviously wasn't thinking straight, maybe he had hit his head against the lockers in frustration at losing, yeah, that must be why Rayna thought.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much for the reviews, I really appreciate them and thank you so much for reading! Thought I would update again today because i'm so happy for getting reviews x**

 **Chapter 12** \- The start of summer

 _July 14th 1992_

* * *

Rayna's first year at Hogwarts was coming to an end. A lot had happened and she had learn't a lot about herself, her family and the people that surrounded her. She was determined to figure out more about OoP over the summer holidays. She hadn't had the time to do any more research as she had to study for the end of year exams.

The exams went really well for Rayna, she had taken in all the information she had learn't over the year in and was even more excited to return to Hogwarts after the summer.

The Slytherin's had all been in high spirits winning the inter-house Quidditch cup and going into the great hall for the end of year speeches. They all knew they had a good chance of winning the house cup. Their points were higher than all the other houses, the emeralds overtaking all other houses in the hourglasses.

Rayna had heard that three first year Gryffindor students had gone looking for something called the philospher stone. She later learned that it was Harry Potter and his two friends, the youngest Weasley boy and a girl called Hermionie. Rayna was stunned at their bravery and heard rumours that thye went to the forbidden floor in Hogwarts and dueled against Proffessor Quirell who was no where to be seen any more. Rayna knew most of what she knew was gossip as it was overheard from students loudly talking in the corridor.

"good evening students" Dumbledore announced silencing everyone's conversations and causing all heads to turn to the front of the hall where the teachers sat. "another year has gone and as I understand it the house cup needs awarding"

Rayna watched as some of the Slytherins sat up straighter smirking between themselves as Dumbledore read out the points. Gryffindor cam last earning a couple sniggers off the Slytherins and a couple glares thrown towards them from the Gryffindor table.

Rayna looked over to see George take his hat off disappointingly and chuck it on the table sighing. Her eyes then automatically traveled to the brown haired boy sitting next to him. As if sensing her gaze Oliver looked up meeting her eyes. He raised one eyebrow at her and she smirked in return remembering the kiss they shared the other week.

Since that night, Rayna couldn't take her eyes off of him in lessons or at the dinner table. Oliver felt the same, his eyes always searching her out.

Cheers around her shook her out of the trance her and Oliver were in. The great hall decorations turned green and she assumed Dumbledore had announced that Slytherin won. She joined in clapping, however the rest of the hall remained silent glaring at the overly happy Slytherins, a couple odd claps from the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were the only other acknowledgement.

"however" Dumbledore hushed the cheering "recent events must be taken into account" this gained the attention of every student in the hall. "I have a few last minute points to award. To miss Hermionie Granger for the cool use of intellect, 50 points" the Gryffindors started cheering and patting a brown haired girl on the back. She blushed smiling up to Dumbledore.

"To Mr Ronald Weasley for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has ever seen, 50 points"

Rayna was confused as to where this was going. The Gryffindors would overtake the Slytherins if he kept adding points. "and third, to Mr Harry Potter for pure love and outstanding courage" A loud applause sounded from the people surrounding Harry and his friends. Rayna watched as some Slytherins started to take their hats of in defeat and annoyance. "I award Gryffindor 60 points"

"this is ridiclous" Flint spoke glaring at the table and shaking his head.

"it's hardly fair" Higgs looked very annoyed at the headmaster while Adrian just sat their silent with one eyebrow raised.

Rayna looked over to see Proffessor Snape who was holding back a grimace. He didn't look to pleased himself.

"and finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies but a great deal more to stand up to your friends, I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom" the Gryffindors all stood up clapping and cheering as the decoration's in the great hall turned to red.

"that's an actual joke" Adrian laughed "he's gone crazy, finally gone bat shit crazy, must be getting to old for this job" he huffed as he looked at how dejected the Slytherin's were.

"it is what it is I guess" Rayna sighed taking her hat off in defeat. She glanced over to look at Oliver who was standing up cheering. He looked ecstatic as he laughed with his friends. Rayna felt herself involuntarily smile while she watched. However this was short lived as her eyes met those of a blonde haired Alicia Spinnet who glared daggers at Rayna.

Rayna looked away, immediately joining in the conversation Flint was having with the boys about how unfair this was as the Slytherin's had been working hard all year. Rayna was too scared to look over to the Gryffindor table in case she met Alicia's glare again.

She missed how Oliver's eyes wandered over to her wanting to smile at her as if to say no hard feelings, but she never looked up again to see him. Oliver wanted to find her before they both left for the summer tomorrow.

Some students were starting to make their way out of the hall and to their dormitories, most of them having not packed yet, leaving it to the last minute. Oliver was waiting for Rayna to leave before he did so he could catch up with her.

Eventually she stood up from her seat, Higgs, Pucey and Flint with her. They walked out of the great hall not saying much to each other. Oliver stood up from his seat excusing himself from the people he was sitting with. Alicia glared at the retreating Slytherins as she had seen Oliver watching them and waiting to excuse himself. She knew he most likely wanted to speak to the Carrow girl. It seemed Oliver had somehow become friends with her even though the Gryffindor team had told him several times not to. Plus Alicia was his girlfriend and if she didn't like Rayna he shouldn't.

"hey Carrow" he called after her as she had just left the hall and was on the way to the Slytherin common room. This caused all four Slytherins to stop walking and turn around.

"Wood?" she asked slightly confused. Oliver awkwardly looked around, he should have thought this threw and made sure he could speak to her by herself.

"what do you want Wood?" Flint spat glaring at him.

"hey why don't you guys go on, i'll catch you up" Rayna said. They reluctantly left, Flint not happy about it.

"yes?" Rayna asked once they were alone.

"no hard feeling right, you won the Quidditch cup, we won the house cup. Truce?" he spoke holding his hand out for her to shake. She chuckled.

"truce" she spoke shaking his hand before turning around to try and catch up to the others.

"hey Carrow" he called after her, watching her walk away. She stopped but didn't turn around to face him.

"have a good summer" he spoke. She was silent for a couple seconds before replying.

"see you around Wood" she smirked to herself before turning around the corner and out of sight.

Oliver smiled after her, chuckling to himself and shaking his head before turning around in the opposite direction to go to the Gryffindor common room.

Rayna caught up to the Slytherin boys who hadn't gotten that far.

"what was that all about?" Flint asked.

"it was nothing" she breezed over his question. Her answer didn't satisfy Flint but he dropped it."so what were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Adrian was just saying how things are changing" Higgs spoke up.

"you must be able to tell" Adrian said "something bad is coming, Hogwarts is changing and we need to be aware. We all need to be careful over summer okay?" he spoke seriously.

"you're right" Flint said "I over heard my Mother and Father over Christmas. Things are changing and not for the good"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13** \- Summer

 _6th August 1992_

* * *

There was a month left of summer until Rayna went back to Hogwarts. Adrian had been staying with her, not wanting to go back to his own house for the summer. They hadn't made any progress on finding out OoP and they hadn't returned to her fathers office to look for more information.

Rayna's Aunt had been around the Carrow house more than usual and it freaked both Slytherins out. They tried to get away and do something everyday so they weren't subjected to her curious stares and crazy looks. Rayna had not seen much of her own Father and assumed he was either out everyday, working longer hours at work or cooped up in his office, but she didn't care enough to find out or get involved.

She knew their business was none of hers and she preferred to keep away from them. She was thankful for Adrian being there to keep her company.

Today they had planned to meet up with Flint and Higgs at a well known and popular park among Wizards. Rayna had never been, nor had Adrian but Flint suggested it as his Mother used to take him there to learn to fly when he was younger.

Rayna looked around her at the sunny sky, clear as day. There was a slight breeze and she smiled at the sound of young wizards and witches running around playing. In a grassy patch on the left there stood around 10 young wizards next to brooms all shouting the word "up" at their broomsticks, a middle aged woman was trying to contain her laughter as she watched the children become slightly aggressive when their broom didn't move.

"over here" she heard Flint call to them.

Rayna smiled not having seen her friends much over the summer. She hugged Higgs before hugging Flint who pinched her cheeks when she pulled away.

"you're even cuter than I remember" Flint spoke laughing "I've missed your face"

"bugger off" she squealed pushing him away.

"anything interesting happen to anyone over Summer?" Adrian asked looking at Flint and then Higgs.

"My parents think Dumbledore was out of order Last year" Higgs spoke frowning. "they don't think he should be allowed to run a school where he gives house points to students who risk their lives and nearly die"

Rayna could see their point. It was a foolish thing for the three Gryffindor's to do, but they survived and instead of being told off they were given house points. It would surely only encourage them to do it more now.

"was a pretty stupid move from Dumbldore" Adrian spoke out agreeing. "bet if it was a Slytherin we would have lost points and the students would have been expelled.

"yeah, but you gotta remember that the student wasn't just anyone, it was Harry Potter" Flint scoffed "he would get away with anything"

It was true. He probably would because he was the boy who lived. But Rayna still thought he was brave. From what shes heard that he's been through in his life she can't help but think he should be able to get away with certain things. The boys parents had been murdered in front of him by the darkest wizard of all time and he survived the killing curse. He was pretty amazing she couldn't deny that.

"have you guys ever heard of OoP?" Rayna asked curiously.

"OoP?" Higgs said making a confused face

"yeah" she confirmed.

"never heard of it in my life" he spoke.

"me either" Flint said "why, what does it mean?"

"I don't know, that's what i'm trying to figure out" she spoke dejectedly. It was worth a try.

"I gotta talk to you guys" Flint suddenly said, a serious look on his face. He looked slightly awkward as if he didn't know how to say it."This year Mr Malfoy has given us Nimbus 2001 brooms" he said. This earned excited claps from Higgs and Rayna.

"How and why?" Rayna asked amazed and excited to use them.

"what does he want in return?" Adrian glared slightly not finding it very exciting. He knew the Malfoy's and he knew what they were like. They only ever splashed out on expensive things if it mean't there was something in it for themselves.

"yeah thats the thing. His son Draco who will be in 2nd year is our new seeker." Flint said quickly. Everyone's jaws dropped not expecting this."

Rayna glanced at Higgs to see his reaction.

He looked very pissed off.

"what the hell Flint! you actually agreed to that? How could you?" he asked offended and betrayed. He thought they were friends, how could he do that to one of his friends. Espcially as he was a bloody good seeker and he knew it.

"that's bull" Adrian said angrily. "you know Higgs is the best seeker in Slytherin" he spat.

"Is he any good at it though?" Rayna asked trying to calm everyone down.

"wouldn't have said yes if he was rubbish now would I? couldn't take any chance to let Wood beat us this year" Flint defended himself.

"so i'm off the team now?" Higgs was hurt but played it off as angry. "I can't belive this" he spoke getting up to leave.

"Marcus, how could you do that to him" Rayna said sadly. Higgs was such a good friend to them all and Flint was just kicking him off the team like that.

"Oi Higgs, get back here" Flint demanded in his Captain authoritative voice.

"you're not my captain anymore why should I?"

"yes I am. You didn't let me explain." he said "you're just going to be moved to beater, we will all help train you" Flint said "I've been meaning to kick Bole off the team ever since he hit the bludger at Rayna and messed up her shoulder."

"beater?" Higgs spoke "beater? I've never been a beater in my entire life!" he said.

"Look mate, i'm really sorry but there's nothing I could really do. You all know what the Malfoy's are like. I didn't accept it at first, but my Father made me, he works with Mr Malfoy and told me he needed to be in his good books this year. I'm sorry mate, I really am" he said genuinely.

Terrance sat down again, quiet as he took this in. He loved being seeker but he could try being beater for a change, he might even like it he thought.

"so these nimbus 2001's?" Rayna spoke "Woods going to absolutely freak out when he sees them" Rayna said smiling at the thought of the brown haired Quidditch obsessed Gryffindor.

She wondered how he was spending his summer. Probably writing new plays or sneaking into Appleby Arrows closed practices to take notes. She laughed at the thought of this and how true it probably was.

"i'm thinking if we train consistently from the start of the year, we have a good chance at winning again. I know that Wood is going to put up even more of a fight this year" Flint spoke.

"did you see him after the match though? Honestly thought he was going to cry" Adrian said laughing as he remembered the look on Oliver's face.

"they all looked like they were going to cry" Flint chuckled.

"I think Wood's going to be out for blood" Rayna said "he's probably spent his whole summer working on a training schedule"

"he's never going to find a strategy to beat us though. That's why he gets so frustrated at us" Flint laughed "he can't stand that we don't strategize everything and we play unpredictably. No game is ever the same with us and he can't handle it."

"the chasers get so confused, it's funny just to watch their vacant expressions when they go in to snatch the quaffle and realize it's already been passed off." Adrian said.

"that reminds me" Higgs spoke up " Hufflepuff have a new seeker this year too. My Father was speaking to a man who works in the department of magical creatures who said his son goes to Hogwarts too and had just been picked as the new Hufflepuff seeker."

"what's his name?" Adrian asked interested. There weren't many people that Adrian didn't know who played Quidditch at Hogwarts.

"Diggory, I think, can't remember his first name"

"Cedric Diggory?" Adrian asked.

"yeah- that sounds right" Higgs spoke nodding.

"he's a good flyer" Adrian said "we went to the same flying teacher when we were younger, never seen him as a seeker though, will be interesting"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14** \- Hogwarts

 _September 7th 1992_

* * *

The air had turned cold within a week as Summer turned into Autumn. The leaves on the trees were starting to turn to colours of red, brown and yellow. The wind was picking up as small drops of rain started to fall across the grounds of Hogwarts. Although the seasons had changed, Hogwarts had stayed the same.

Rayna was grateful to be back. She felt like she belonged at Hogwarts more than the place she called home. She was a sixth year now and knew that the work was going to be more challenging now she got to chose her subjects to study.

She was on the way to Defense against the Dart arts, one of her favorite subjects, even though last years teacher Professor Quirell was terrible. This year they were supposed to have a new teacher. Rayna had hoped it would be Professor Snape as he was her favorite teacher who she seemed to learn the most off.

However, at the welcoming feast the famous Gilderoy Lockhart was introduced as the new DADA teacher. She had sighed, rolling her eyes. She had always thought he seemed fake. He talked about himself too much in the press and spoke about all these amazing adventures he went on, saving people and defeating terrible things. Rayna just never believed him, yet other (especially women and girls it seemed) absolutely adored him.

She walked into the classroom and saw that Professor Lockhart wasn't there yet. She took a seat at a table in the middle, waiting for Adrian and Higgs to get there. It was only her a couple Ravenclaw's who sat on the other side of the room giggling to each other and talking quietly about their summers.

Oliver entered the room, scanning the few people there. His eyes landed on the back of her head and he smirked. He walked straight past her as she hadn't looked up from her desk.

Rayna's eyes glanced up to the back of the figure that had just walked past her and sat at the table in front of her.

"nice summer wood?" she asked looking back at her desk. She could see from the corner of her eye that he had now turned around in his seat to face her.

"not too bad Carrow, yourself?" he asked

"was alright, not very exciting though" she spoke smirking as she looked up, finally meeting his eyes. She took in his appearance not having seen him for months. The Summer was good to him. He looked slightly tanned as if he had been abroad. He had his school robes off so she could only see his white shirt and red and gold tie. The shirt sleeves were tight around the tops of his arms and Rayna could tell he must have worked out or played a lot of Quidditch over the summer. He also looked to have grown taller.

He raised one eyebrow at her before chuckling. She hadn't realized but he had been doing exactly the same. Her hair had grown longer during the summer and the green in her eyes seemed to have brightened. He turned back to face the front smiling to himself.

Professor Lockhart was as worse than Rayna thought he would be. He made them do a quiz about himself asking unnecessary questions such as what his favorite car was. Rayna guessed at all the questions while Adrian simply sat there not bothering at all, in fact he didn't touch his quiz once but just sat there with an unimpressed expression on his face.

It was later in the day and Flint had called a last minute Quidditch practice out of no where.

"we need to train our new seeker" Flint had explained to them once they all met to walk out to the pitch.

"Malfoy, this is the team, Pucey and Carrow are our chasers, Derrick and Higgs are our beaters and Montague is our keeper. As long as you do your job properly and catch the snitch than i'm sure you will all get along fine" Flint's introduction was short as they made their way to the pitch.

Rayna could see the Gryffindors approach them, dressed in their Quidditch robes. This confused her as it looked like they too were going to the Quidditch pitch too.

"what are you doing here? I booked the pitch for Gryffindor" Oliver spoke making his way towards Flint, he looked annoyed and frustrated already and Quidditch season had only just begun.

"easy Wood, I've got a note" Flint replied handing a letter from proffesor Snape over to the brown haired boy.

"you've got a new seeker?" he asked reading it "who?"

"Malfoy?" Harry spoke in surprise as everyone turned to look at the white haired boy who was smirking as he stepped forwards slightly.

Rayna shared a look with Adrian before turning to look at Oliver who was already looking at her. She smirked at him earning a smile from him.

"that's right, and that's not all that's new this year" he spoke before moving his broom and gaining everyone's attention.

"those are nimbus 2001's, how did you get those?" Ron Weasley spoke up looking at the brooms in amazement.

"A gift from Draco's Father" Flint spoke rasing an eyebrow at Oliver.

"Unlike some Weasley, my Father can afford the best" Malfoy spoke. Rayna was annoyed at him for saying that, it was uncalled for and lived up to all the negative portrayals of Slytherins.

"at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent" Hermione Granger spoke up.

Rayna looked at Higgs who looked like he was about to laugh, Rayna smiled at the comment finding it funny.

"no one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood." Malfoy sneered.

His use of words gained gasps from the Gryffindors and from Rayna. She turned to look at Adrian who was sending a glare towards Malfoy.

Rayna met Olivers eyes again, trying to silently apologise for her team mates behaviour. Oliver just looked disapointed and smiled sadly at her.

"eat slugs" she heard a voice shout before a flash of green rebounded and hit Ron Weasley. It seemed that his wand was faulty as he ended up jinxing himself.

The next minute she heard the Ginger haired boy gag before throwing up a slug. Rayna looked away thinking she may be sick herself, she hated slugs.

"you know Fred" Someone from behind her said as both teams had crowded around to watch the boy. "our little brother really has outdone himself today"

Fred chuckled at his brother.

Rayna turned around to face the twins, she hadn't seen them yet since they returned back to Hogwarts after summer.

"Fred" she nodded "George" she nodded

"if it isn't our little ray of sunshine" Fred spoke. Rayna laughed at his name.

"how was your summer?" George asked

"it was... long" she spoke "you?"

"it was alright, missed Hogwarts a lot though." George spoke his twin agreeing.

"we had to help mum around the house everyday as she was worried about us spending too much time working on a little ... project."Fred said.

"what kind of project?" she asked

"it's a secret" George said

"you'll find out eventually" Fred said smirking at his twin.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15** \- Gryffindor v Slytherin

 _October 1992_

* * *

It was that time of the year again. The heavily awaited Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor, all students would wake up earlier than normal just so they could get the best spots in the stands. It was Slytherins first game with their new seeker and although Malfoy had actually been pretty good at training, Rayna was still worried. Higgs had more experience and was a natural, knowing how Gryffindor played however Malfoy had never played the Gryffindors before and obviously was a lot less experienced.

Rayna knew Oliver would play this to Gryffindors advantage.

Oliver had smiled briefly at her when their eyes met across the sky before he shook hands with Flint so the game could start. Like always the hand shake was firm, as if they were both trying to crush the others hand so they couldn't play.

The game started off well for Slytherin, Rayna caught the quaffle first sending it straight to Adrian. They were nearing the Gryffindor hoops in a trio, constantly throwing the quaffle between them as the Gryffindor chasers tried to keep up. Flint threw the quaffle towards the left goal but Oliver caught it safely between his hands.

He smirked at Rayna who laughed quietly at him.

She sped away, chasing down the players in red and gold.

"and Alicia Spinnet drops the Quaffle." Lee Jordans voice echoed around the stands.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rayna saw a bludger speed towards her. She ducked, moving out of the way as it missed her. She followed where it was going, it seemed determined to hit something. She watched as it went flying towards the black haired Gryffindor, Harry Potter.

"Ray!" Adrian shouted gaining her attention. He threw the quaffle to her before he sped ahead, avoiding Katie Bell who was flying straight towards him.

Rayna caught the quaffle flying as fast as she could go towards the Gryffindor goals. She was determined to score against Oliver just so she had a chance to smirk back at him.

She clasped the quaffle tightly under her arm using both hands on her broom to push it forwards faster. Approaching the hoops she aimed for the left one.

Oliver knew how she played. She was unpredictable, yet he could always predict what she was going to do.

Rayna hadn't slowed down yet and Oliver was starting to worry that she was going to collide with him.

At the last minute Rayna swerved quickly, nearly flinging herself off her broom, shooting at the right hoop and scoring.

Oliver was trying to regain his balance as he looked at her with both eyebrows raised, amazed at how daring that move had been.

She smirked at him as he shook his head at her in disbelief, chuckling quietly.

"training for the ballet Potter?" She heard a voice say a couple meters away from her. She looked to see Malfoy sneering at the Gryffindor seeker and she rolled her eyes. She wished he would just focus on playing rather than taunt the opposition.

Harry glared at the blonde before his eyes adverted to something near the boys head. He immediately lurched forward on his broom.

On the other side of the pitch Flint had hung by the Gryffindor goals after Rayna had scored. He could see Wood watching her and smiling dumbly to himself. Flint didn't like it at all.

"she looks good flying huh Wood?" Flint called over to the Gryffindor keeper whose attention was now drawn on him.

"what do you mean?" Wood spoke glaring at the Slytherin captain.

"you know what I mean" flint glared "such a shame you can never have her. Such a shame that its Higgs who gets to touch her whenever he wants, oh and that brown haired Ravenclaw she slept with last week, don't forget about him." Flint spoke, watching the brown haired boys reaction. Oliver's face sunk, his eyebrows knitting in confusion at how Flint's words affected him.

Olivers brow creased further, his eyes now glaring deadly at Flint, he didn't like what he was saying at all. It didn't sit right with him. The thought of Rayna being with someone else who wasn't him just wasn't something he wanted to think of. Especially not during a Quidditch match when he should be paying attention to the game and encouraging his team.

"I don't care who she sleeps with." Oliver finally said through gritted teeth.

"we all know that's a lie" Flint laughed spitefully seeing just how much his words were affecting the Gryffindor.

"Katie Bell scores, 40-20 to Gryffindor." Lee Johnson shouted enthusiastically.

"shouldn't you go and help your team?" Oliver sneered pulling a face that did not look right on him. Oliver was never one to get to mad or wound up this easily by a Slytherin, but the things flint said made him fuming.

Oliver couldn't stop thinking about his words. How he could never have her. How she had slept with two people in the past week. He looked over to where Rayna was, laughing at something Higgs had just said to her in passing.

Oliver glared at them until his attention was drawn to Harry who had nearly been knocked off his broom by a bludger.

"watch yourself harry!" Oliver shouted to the black haired boy. Harry stared at him before shouting.

"Wood! look out!" He shouted back as the bludger came out of no where, hitting the top of Oliver's broom stick. This caused the broom to snap in half, Oliver losing control and falling straight to the ground in a hurry.

"Oliver" Alicia shouts gaining Raynas attention. S

he turned around to see what had happened and found herself watching the Gryffindor keeper fall to the ground. It was as if everything suddenly went into slow motion. The game was still going on, Alicia had flown straight down to the ground and ran over to the keeper who was laying face down on the floor.

Rayna heart had stopped. She was frozen in the air unsure what to do. Oliver looked lifeless laying splayed out. She couldn't see his face.

"Ray" Flint shouted trying to snap her out of her trance. "Rayna!" he called flying to be next to her. "what's up?" he said following her eyes to where the Gryffindor keeper layed on the ground, people huddling around him gasping in shock.

Flint wanted to laugh but he couldn't instead he found himself annoyed by the look of concern on Rayna's face.

"Harry Potter has caught the snitch." Lee's voice could just be heard over the cheers of the Gryffindor stands. "Gryffindor wins"

Rayna glanced in the direction of Harry Potter who was on the floor. A bludger was making it's way down towards him and he flung himself out of the way. In seconds the bludger was hit by a flash turning into hundreds of smaller pieces before floating slowly to the ground. A group surrounded him and Rayna lost interest.

She turned to Flint who was still by her side in the air.

"think the decision was right to chose Malfoy as seeker?" she asked glaring at the Slytherin captain before sparing a look to the blonde haired Malfoy boy who was sheepishly laying on the ground in pain.

Rayna flew down to the ground landing next to Higgs. One look at his face told her he was not impressed with how they jad performed.

"told Flint it wasn't a good idea." Higgs mumbled as Adrian walked over to join them looking just as annoyed.

"we all knew it wasn't" Rayna replied just as moodily. "don't know what he was thinking"

"Higgs" Flint spoke from afar jogging to catch up with the three Slytherins.

"i'll see you guys later" Higgs said quickly before leaving to walk straight back to the castle.

Flint had now joined the two remaining Slytherins, all of them watching Higgs retreating figure.

"I won't be surprised if he quits" Adrian said to them. Rayna nodded in agreement.

"don't blame him if he did" Rayna said glancing at Flint turning to walk towards the lockers.

Flint would never admit it, but seeing two of his friends walk away disappointed in him kinda hurt. He spared a look at Adrian who shrugged before walking to the locker room. Flint followed with the rest of the team.

* * *

Oliver had been taken to the hospital wing. Once he woke up from his unconscious state he panicked.

"Oliver" a voice cried from beside him making him jump. He winced in pain, looking up to see Alicia, Katie and the twins.

Madame Pomfrey hurriedly walked towards the Gryffindor who had woken up.

"drink this quickly" she rushed to give him a small bottle of clear liquid.

He sat up slowly before drinking it in one, wincing at the sour taste.

"it should heal you straight away" she spoke "you should be able to leave in a couple hours.

"thank you" him mumbled.

Madame Pomfrey walked off mumbling something about Gryffindor and Slytherin matches and how she needs another hand to help on these days.

"did we win?" Oliver asked, Alicia rolled her eyes.

"you almost died and one of the first things you say is if we won!" she spoke shaking her head.

Oliver ignored her.

"Well did we?" he asked again.

"yep" Fred replied "Harry caught the snitch soon after you fell, although i'm pretty sure the Slytherin's charmed the bludger to go after him. It was tailing him the whole game".

Oliver sighed in relief. At least the Slytherins didn't win. He found that he couldn't fully relax after knowing this though. Normally after winning he found a weight lifted off his shoulders for the rest of the day until training the next day.

Something was still eating at him and he thinks he knows what. Flint's words from the game had stalled him during the match causing him to lose focus.

"we're going to go to dinner" Alicia said "is there anything you need? Madame Pomfrey said you can leave in a couple hours which is great because we're throwing a party in the common room to celebrate"

The last thing Oliver felt like doing was celebrating.

"great" he said smiling, trying to look enthusiastic. "I'll see you later" he spoke.

Alicia leaned over to kiss him quickly on the lips. He smiled at her comfortingly.

"see you later" she spoke before following the rest of the team out.

Oliver looked over to see Harry Potter asleep in the bed opposite him. He briefly wondered what happened before he remembered what Fred had said about the charmed bludger.

* * *

Oliver was allowed to leave the hospital wing an hour later. He wasn't hungry enough to go and join his friends at dinner and instead opted for escaping for a couple hours before going back to the Gryffindor common room.

He headed down to the Quidditch pitch needing to retrieve his bag and quidditch plays book. It was getting darker outside as the Autumn air was becoming colder. He tightened his scarf around his neck, rubbing his hands together to try and get warmer.

He walked straight into the Gryffindor locker room, the lights coming on automatically as he stepped foot in.

He glanced out of the window that faced the Slytherins locker room and couldn't help but notice the light was on. Oliver retrieved his bag and book, sitting down on the middle bench and sighing. He was glad that they won but angry at himself for not being fully focused and ending up in the hospital wing.

He decided to head back up to the castle, the air becoming to cold for him. Making sure he locked up something from the pitch caught his eye.

Intrigued, Oliver moved forward to get a better look. Rayna was hovering near the hoops, a quaffle in hand as she flew towards them, swerving the quaffle and throwing it through the middle hoop before flying fast to catch it the other side. He leaned against the wall next to him fascinated by the speed she had.

Rayna could tell someone was watching her closely and she had a good idea of who it was. Flying to the ground she walked straight past where Oliver was standing.

"spying on the competition?" she asked without looking at him.

"wouldn't dream of it" he smirked following her.

"would be too much of an easy game for you, there's no fun in that" she spoke before coming to a stop. She only now turned to face him a concerned look upon her face. "how are you doing?" she asked.

"i've fallen off my broomstick so many times that i'm used to it by now" he spoke.

"it looked pretty serious" she said looking down at the floor.

"i'm fine" he spoke. "it just Quidditch for you"

"I guess"

He felt mad at her for some reason and wanted her to know but she changed the subject.

"so... you and Spinnet still together?" she asked looking at the wall behind Oliver and tracing the golden patterns with her eyes.

"um yeah" he said a little awkwardly, blushing.

"that's nice" she spoke feigning interest, but her voice came out flatter than she intended.

"what about you? I heard you and Higgs were a thing and also some Ravenclaw guy? That pretty impressive if you ask me" he spoke rasing his eyebrows and watching her reaction.

Rayna had no idea what he was talking about. She frowned in confusion a little taken aback by his words.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up and meeting his eyes.

"I mean... sleeping with two guys in the space of a couple weeks is a bit..." Oliver made a gesture unsure what to say.

Rayna was furious. He obviously believed a rumor that someone had made up.

"i don't want people to think you're a.. you know..." Oliver could tell he was digging himself into a hole by Rayna's reaction. He didn't have the right to judge her. Even if this was all true it wouldn't be his place to comment.

He wasn't even giving her a chance to tell him it wasn't true.

She raised her eyebrows folding her arms.

"no I don't know, but please go on, finish that sentence" she tapped her foot waiting for his answer.

"a slut" he spoke, the anger he felt from earlier making an appearance as he said the words.

"lovely" she said glaring at him.

Oliver now knew why she was in Slytherin. She had the same deadly glare that all Slytherin's possessed.

"where are you going?" Oliver asked as she started walking away without saying anything.

"to find flint" she called out not turning back to look at him "going to see if he wants to sleep with me"

Oliver stared after her, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. He wasn't expecting her to say that.

He followed after her, keeping his distance as he followed her path. She was walking fast, her fists clenched by her sides telling Oliver that she was angry. He wondered if she was actually going to find Flint.

She took the opposite direction to he Slytherin corridor and he lost sight of her retreating figure. He climbed the stairs to Gryffindor tower, annoyed at himself and definitely not in the mood to party.

However upon walking through the Gryffindor portrait it looked like no one was in the mood to party.

Professor McGonagle was talking to the students as they gathered around looking worried.

"i'm afraid we must be extra careful due to recent events. Mr Filch's cat has been petrified and we must take all precautions. At this moment Professor Dumbledore is deeming Hogwarts safe, but we must take in consideration during our actions, try to be in pairs and do not venture out late" Professor McGonagle looked worried as she spoke.

Once she had left the common room was filled with worried whispers and hurried conversations.

"what was that all about?" Oliver spoke once he reached his friends.

"there's talk about the chamber of secrets being opened again. Last time it was, a muggle born was killed" Katie spoke.

Oliver couldn't help but feel worried as he looked at his friends. He himself was a half-blood, yet a majority of his friends were muggle born.

* * *

 **AN: Thank you for reading, sorry for the late update i've been soooo busy. Hope you like it and don't forget to review and follow xxxx**


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